


Family ties

by Rivinia



Category: Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 21:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 69,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivinia/pseuds/Rivinia
Summary: "The Lost Boys 1987" A young woman has been wondering her whole life about why her family does not want to talk about her biological father. Christina just wants to know who she really is and why her stepfather hates her so much! So she leaves her family after a terrible incident and tries to build a new life in Santa Carla. She gets help from Zoe, the younger sister of Edgar and Alan Frog.





	1. Leaving home

Leaving home

"Where's Christina," Michael yelled in rage as he jumped out of the car. He had just returned from the city, where he had met with a friend for dinner. In the fast food, he'd seen the fateful video his stepdaughter had released with her band.

Michael would not even have noticed because he was sitting with his back to the screen if Lynn, the waitress, had not made him aware of it when she brought the drinks. "You're certainly proud of the little one," she said, but then Michael had already rushed out of the restaurant angrily.

On her deathbed many years ago, Christina's mother, had told her about him, Christina was just seventeen at the time. He was Christina's father, an immortal, a vampire.

Star told her daughter that he often appeared to her in her dreams, she longed for him, even though she would never admit that to Christina's stepfather.

Star did not tell her daughter her father's name, but she just could not forget about him, all about this man was magical, his voice, his smug grin, his enormous protector instinct towards her - Star missed him and his blood brothers since that fateful night of the year nineteen seventy-eight!

He was her first love, but she did not realize that until it was too late. It was her fault that he had lost his life, she had betrayed him and his blood brothers.

Christina, of course, was convinced that her mother was no longer clear in the head, something like vampires, there were only in horror movies, but still - this story had never let go of the young woman.

After Stars' funeral, Christina asked Michael, her stepfather, for her birth father, since she even didn't know his name. She knew for a fact that Michael was not her father, he never missed an opportunity to remind her. But her questions had been a real big mistake. Michael bet Christina for the first time. So far, she has always "only" endured his insults and humiliation and now he beat her too.

Star's whole story started with her leaving behind a quarrel with her single father and finally coming to Santa Carla. She had saved some money and was able to finance a cheap room in a motel for a while that she paid weekly.

She accepted various jobs and earned some money. It was not much, but at least she felt better than many of the other runaways, and she did not have to go hungry or search for food thrown away in garbage cans.

One night, on her way to the motel from work, Star was ambushed. All her money was stolen by the man. The rent in the motel was due two days later, Star could not pay for her room and tried to explain why. However, this did not interest the hard-hearted innkeeper in the least and he threw the young woman out of the motel.

All she could do now was find a place to sleep outdoors. Star was already glad that she had the opportunity to wash in the beach showers, which were completely free.

One night she had gone to sleep to a remote spot on the beach. She was awakened by the sound of several engines and looked around sleepy and astonished. A young man sat grinning beside her, his motorcycle standing behind him with the engine running, and around the two stood three more machines, each with one person sitting on it.

"What are you doing out here alone in the middle of the night?" The young man asked. Star did not answer immediately and got scared. The young man and Star looked at each other. She had never seen anyone with such blond hair and ice-blue eyes and looked down, a little intimidated.

"You do not need to be afraid of me," the young man assured her, then two of his friends began to laugh, the third motorcyclist made a face and only watched closely what was going on. The young man looked annoyed at his friends, then turned back to Star.

"Looks like you don't have a place to sleep," he remarked, grinning. "Oh, how rude of me, by the way, I'm David," he added, extending his right hand to Star. She hesitated a moment and finally took his hand.

He was charming and somehow Star trusted him. Finally, he offered to come with him and his friends. "We really have plenty of room, and it's dangerous for a young woman out here alone," he explained. One of his friends laughed again. The young man looked sourly at his friend. "Paul, shut up," he hissed and looked at Star again. He noticed her hesitation.

"Hey, you're really safe with us," he promised. "We do not expect anything from you for our hospitality, and no one will harm you in any way," he promised, getting up and holding out his hand again to help her to her feet.

David and Star were a couple for almost two years, but then Star met Michael and turned away from David, she meanwhile knew the secret the Lost Boys shared. She didn't want to be what they were.

David was smart, of course, he had noticed what his woman was up to. But instead of keeping Michael away from her, he invited him to join his gang; he has always had his own methods.

Star tried to warn Michael because the Lost Boys were vampires, but he did not believe that there was blood in that damned bottle and so fate took its course. The story ended with the Lost Boys being destroyed and the house where Michael lived with his family was in ruins.

Michael and Star moved to a small town in the state of Washington, where he was given the opportunity to take on well-paid work and to finish school extra-occupational. His mother, Sam and even the grandfather left Santa Carla, there was nothing left for them after the house was almost destroyed.

Christina's band called themselves "The Immortals," and immortality, as well as vampires paired with melancholy and gothic metal, was their music. In this first video of the band, which they shot themselves and which only was uploaded on Youtube, was about a woman's love for a vampire.

Michael knew, of course, that the video was about his long-dead wife and that asshole of a vampire. That made him so angry that he completely lost control of himself.

"Where's Christina," he yelled again as he ran into the house. The young woman was busy distributing food for her siblings, fourteen-year-old Robin, and twelve-year-old Denise on their plates.

Michael did not give his stepdaughter the slightest chance of any explanation, he gave her a resounding slap in the face. "What were you thinking about making such a shit out to the public?" He yelled angrily at her and struck again.

Christina fell to the ground, completely perplexed because at that moment she did not know what Michael was talking about. "Dad, stop," Robin shouted, jumping up from his chair as Denise ran out of the room in horror.

The boy rushed to his father to pull him away from Christina, but he just pushed him away. In his anger, Michael kicked his stepdaughter's ribs once more. Robin noticed that his father smelled of alcohol, which explained why Michael treated Christina so brutally.

Christina cried, she had a laceration on her face from the slaps, and her ribs hurt a lot, she could barely move. Michael often behaved very unfairly and meanly to her, and actually, the young woman had the desire to find her own flat, after all, she was almost twenty-nine years old.

But she had once promised her mother to help Michael with the younger siblings, and Christina loved the two more than anything else. Well, she did not have a lot of friends, because Michael taught her from the beginning that she was useless and that it would have been better if she had never been born.

Christina was rather insecure and shy, yet she had persuaded the Immortals to record this video. She knew that she had a beautiful voice. She had received an offer from Dean, the bandleader, to go on tour with the band, but Christina made it clear to him that she did not want to be on stage in front of so many people. She was sure she could not do something like this.

That, in turn, led to a fight with the band members, but Christina did not care. She did not need these people. They drank too much and also were on drugs, the young woman did not like it.

When Michael drank whiskey, it made him aggressive, and that always got to Christina. When she realized that he had been drinking, she usually just went up to her room, but this time she was completely unprepared.

Michael looked at her hatefully as she tried to get off the floor. "I want you to pack your things and get out of here before I completely forget myself," he yelled at her.

"Where shall I go?" the young woman whispered. "I do not give a damn," spat Michael. "Just piss off, I've endured your sight long enough!"

Robin looked at his father in horror. "Daddy ...," he began, but Michael cut him off. "Stay out of this, young man," the drunken man grunted. "It's none of your business, she does not belong here, she never has!"

Christina swallowed and cried again as she slowly got up in pain. Suddenly, Will, one of Christina's few friends, was standing in the kitchen with Denise. "What do you want here," Michael shouted at him.

Will helped Christina to his feet with a horrified face. "Denise called me, she told me what happened." "Piss off both of you," Michael yelled, upset and stormed out of the kitchen. Will looked at him angrily. "Christina, you can stay with us for a while," he offered. Christina nodded, relieved.

Christina stayed with Will for a week, living in a shared flat with a buddy. She decided it was time to leave her family to find out who her father was and what had happened to him. She would move to Santa Carla.

The young woman only knew that he was destroyed before she was born, even before Star knew that she would have a baby, as well as his three blood brothers.

Christina did not know what to make of her mother's story, an immortal, a vampire was her father. She loved vampire movies and books about supernatural beings, but those were just stories.

And even if her mother had talked so convincingly about her time in Santa Carla at that time, Christina was sure that her mother, unfortunately, had completely lost her mind.

On the other hand, there were Christina's little secrets that she had never told anyone. So it happened at that time almost every night that she woke up at some point and instead of lying in her bed just floated under the ceiling. The moment she woke up there, she fell down.

That's how she had hurt herself a few times. When she fell off the ceiling again and asked about the noise in her room, in the middle of the night, she lied that she had fallen out of bed. As she got older, she just locked her room door. Once she even had a laceration on her forehead, which had to be sewn. If you looked closely, you could still see the small scar.

Then there was the thing with her teeth, which often hurt terribly, especially the incisors, but her dentist could never find a problem. However, she wondered, if her mother's story was true, could it be possible for some teenagers, like the Frog Brothers and Sam and Michael, to destroy four established vampires? So she decided to go in search of the truth.

On her deathbed, Star had given her daughter a casket in which she kept everything she had received from Christina's father and his friends. Michael knew nothing about it. The box contained some jewelry, two keys, and some cash. The one key belonged to a house on the outskirts of Santa Carla, and the other belonged to the BMW, which stood by Will's parents in the shed.

The house and the car belonged to Christina's father and his brothers. Michael had insisted then that everything that came from Christina's father, disappears from his house. But Star did not bring herself to part with it, so she set the car down with Will's parents, with whom she had made friends, and hid the casket in the house.

From the house where Star had a cozy two-room apartment, Michael had never known anything. Star had made clear to her daughter that under no circumstances could Michael learn about these things.

After Christina had decided to leave the city, she had phoned Robin and told him the hiding place of the casket. She asked him to smuggle them out of the house and get them to the shed, and he should definitely bring Denise.

The young woman let Will drive her to the shed after telling him about her plans; she had, however, kept the story of the vampires to herself.

He smiled then. "Chrissy, the car is almost forty years old and just confessed, do you think he'll take you somewhere?" "Well," replied Christina, grinning. "I've spent most of my money in this car lately, and Jacob, a friend of a friend, fixed it for me, and now it's running like a baby pussycat, you obviously did not even realize he was in your shed."

Will looked at her in astonishment. "No, since I finished my bike last year, I have not been there, why did not you just buy a small car, that would have been cheaper?" "Oh, you know, Will, I just like the car pretty well," she answered dreamily.

She did not say the car was of high value to her because it was all she had from her father. Robin and Denise were already there when Christina got out of the car. The two children came flying in their arms.

"Are you well again?" Whispered Robin. Christina nodded. "Are you coming home now?" Denise asked hopefully. Christina had tears in her eyes as she explained their plans to them. "I come in between to Will," she said. "Then you come to visit me here and I write to you on Facebook and of course you can always visit me during the holidays in Santa Carla if your dad allows it."

Although Denise burst into tears, both children nodded, because they knew that Christina wanted to endure Michael no longer. The farewell, however, was very difficult for everyone, and many tears flowed.

Thanks to the cash from the casket, Christina did not have to worry, and not even in her old home to get clothes or something like that. Her personal belongings, such as her diary and her favorite CDs, had been taken out of the house by Will days ago. On the outskirts, she stopped briefly again, because the sadness about the farewell to her siblings and friends broke out of her.

After she calmed down, she continued her journey. She knew it would be a long and exhausting journey, but she had to go through it now. There was no turning back, she wanted to get out of this sleepy town and away from Michael.

It took almost two days before Christina reached her destination. She was half the way when she stopped to stay in a motel. She needed a rest. However, there was no question of restful sleep because she still had pain from Michael's attack and was plagued by bad dreams and woke up several times during the night sweaty and crying.

When that horrible night was finally over, she took a long bath before packing up her few things. After breakfast, she paid fifteen dollars for the room at the reception and continued her journey.

It was already dark when she passed the town sign of Santa Carla. At a small gas station, she stopped briefly, refueled the car and asked for the way while she paid her petrol.

There were two young men with motorcycles at the petrol station, one of them opened the door with a smile when she left and looked at her with interest as she walked back to her car.

The two rode behind her all the way, slowing slightly as she parked the car at her new home. She watched at them for a moment, then for the first time she entered the house where her parents had spent some time alone. Christina went to the second floor, unlocked the front door, stripped off her jeans, cuddled up on the sofa in her sleeping bag, and immediately fell asleep.


	2. The bikers

Paul and Marko were members of a motorcycle gang called "Lost Boys". It had just gotten dark outside when they decided to go to the boardwalk. But the two men didn't spend much time there, because there was nothing going on, they were too early.

"Hey Paul," Marko said, "let's go home and come back later." Paul nodded and jumped off the parapet he had been sitting on. "It was a stupid idea to come so early, let's see what Dwayne and David are doing."

"But my bike needs gasoline first," Marko replied, then he turned and walked slowly to his motorcycle. Paul followed, his usual grin on his face. At the petrol station, the two of them were standing next to each other on dispensers and fooling around while the petrol ran into their tanks.

When the black BMW stopped behind Paul at another pillar, the boys looked at each other in astonishment, because even if they had not seen this vehicle for many years, they recognized it immediately.

The whole car was painted a dull black, and over the entire surface of the hood was sprayed an airbrush that showed a vampire with long blond hair. A trained eye would also notice the letters "LB", which stood for "Lost Boys" and the name of the artist, namely Marko.

The background of the airbrush was purple, and in the same color as the alloy wheels. The guys from the gang had done everything themselves, yes, as a vampire you had to seek anything useful to do, so as not to lose your mind.

David was responsible for fixing the engines, he could fix almost everything. Marko was the creative head of the gang, and everything related to technology, such as the car's music system, was the job of Dwayne and Paul.

The two vampires still watched the young woman refueling the E21, then they went inside to pay their bill. They stayed in the cashier's house longer than necessary. They wanted to take a closer look at the girl.

Marko flipped through a computer magazine while Paul was near the door where the headlamp bulbs hung. `Hm, she is cute,' he thought as his eyes glanced inconspicuously over her petite figure. When Christina left the cash register, Paul opened the door for her, smiling, and followed by Marko he left after her.

The two waited until she drove off and followed her with a small distance. As she parked the car in front of the house on the outskirts, the two grinned at each other and they slowed down. In the rearview mirror, Marko watched the young woman look after them for a moment, then she disappeared from his view.

The four vampires still liked to stay at Hudsons Bluff, but they did not use it as a place to sleep after the Frog brothers attacked Marko years ago. It was just too risky.

The hidden workshop of the four had an underground tunnel system, where they spent the day. When Marko and Paul arrived, David was sitting in a chair reading the workshop manual for his motorcycle, and Dwayne was reading "Lord of the rings".

Paul threw himself on the chair next to David and looked at him with a broad grin. Marko grabbed Dwayne's skateboard and tried some tricks as he watched them thoughtfully.

David looked up from his book, first at Marko, then into Paul's face. "Did something happen I need to know?", he finally asked impatiently. "We have a surprise," Paul replied laughing. "A really sweet surprise."

"Paul," David said. "Paul, just tell me," he added, putting his book down on the table. "You were right again," Paul explained. "I did not even believe it, but, our car is in town, you know, the one your ex has taken from us after she thought we were dead."

Now David looked at Paul and Marko with interest. Marko nodded. "Paul is right, definitely our car." Dwayne also got interested, put the book down and sat on the armrest of Paul's chair. "Could be a coincidence," he said. "Nope," replied Paul. "Even the little bump that Star has created is still there." Marko nodded again. "

"The car also drove with bumps," Paul imitated Star now, that was all she had said after ramming David's motorcycle and nearly knocking it down, while she tried to park the car. She was not used to driving a car at the time. David and Dwayne had tried to teach her, but it took a very long time for Star to get along with it.

Now he only had a sly smirk on his face, when he remembered the situation. He loved his bike. It was not smart to even touch it without his permission. Coming to close to David's bike with a car made him very angry. "Where did you see the car," Dwayne asked, looking from Paul to Marko. "At the gas station," Marko replied. "Guys, now tell us at last and do not let us fidget forever!"

"A sweet little lady was at the petrol station with the car," Paul replied laughing as he painted Christina's figure in the air with his hands. "She descended in our house on the Suburban. But the surprise is much bigger than you think, David."

Marko sat down on the fountain and grinned in agreement. "Would you two mind to tell us the surprise," David asked annoyed." David, " replied Marko, laughing, "if we would tell you now, it's no surprise. You will know what we mean when you see the little one. And believe me, you'll like it."

" Okay, okay, "David said, raising his hands." Not that my simple question is too much for you. "That ended the conversation and everyone went about his own business he shook his head annoyed and took his book off the table, Marko lay down on one of the sofas and pulled the computer magazine out of his jacket, Dwayne disappeared into the back of the cave and Paul grinned dreamily to himself.

Author's note: I'm sorry, I know this chapter is a bit short, I hope you still like it. Thank you for leaving kudos.


	3. Friends

Friends

The next morning, Christina made her way to the city after she had taken a close look at the apartment. It was funny, although nobody lived in the house, everything worked.

The electricity was obviously registered and there was warm water too. The kitchen was small and the kitchenette old, but there was all she needed in it. The bathroom was a door further and equipped with a shower tray. It was tiled white, simple, but it would be easy to get it free from dust.

At the end of the small, narrow hall, to the right of the front door, there was a small closet in which cleaning utensils were and the vacuum cleaner worked. At the other end was the door to the living room.

It was big enough, with a comfy couch, a small coffee table, and a square dining table with two chairs. The three timeless solid wood chests offered enough storage space. In this room, you could go through the double doors to the balcony overlooking the green.

Opposite the balcony was the door to the bedroom. There was actually the black metal bed that Christina had always wanted, plus two dressers and wardrobe with fife doors.

Carpets in different shades of lilac lay on the wooden floor. Christina liked it all very well. She decided to buy curtains suitable for the carpets and to get just such bedding.

When she went to the basement, there was a washing machine that belonged to her apartment. She seemed to be new. Christina thought it all a bit strange, but she would even find out who owned this house and who took care of everything.

In town, Christina wanted to meet with Zoe. She was the younger sister of the Frog Brothers and a few months older than Christina. The two young women knew each other from the time when Star was still alive. At that time, Edgar and Alan Frog had frequented the Emersons and brought Zoe. The last time they had seen each other at Stars Funeral ten years ago.

Zoe had been very happy when Christina had told at the phone that she would return to her Santa Carla. Zoe was already waiting at the agreed meeting point when Christina arrived at the promenade. The two young women fell into each other's arms. "I'm so glad you're finally here," Zoe said with a beaming smile. "Sam told us how Michael treated you, this ass should be really ashamed," she added.

"I am also very happy," replied Christina. "We have not seen each other in such a long time, how do you get along, since your brothers are out of town?"

"Ha, it's cool without my two guard dogs, can you imagine that I was never allowed to walk alone to the boardwalk in the evenings, and it was really a fight until the two got it, that I would stay here instead to go to Luna Bay with them."

Edgar and Alan had never actually managed to convince their little sister that there really were vampires and other supernatural creatures. They did everything they could to persuade Zoe to leave town with them. Zoe, however, was very stubborn, she did not want to move out to Luna Bay.

Her brothers finally consoled themselves with the thought that they had destroyed the vampires in Santa Carla, in addition, Zoe was now grown up. So Edgar and Alan finally gave in and left Zoe to her will, after all, the men could not force their little sister.

Christina shook her head in disbelief. "And why did they have such a problem with it," she finally asked. "Oh, I do not know either, they always talked about missing people and vampires and other crazy things, but it doesn't matter, now that they're gone and you're here, we can hang out on the boardwalk as often as we want."

Christina looked thoughtfully at Zoe for a moment. Her mother also talked about vampires back then? What if Star had actually told the truth at all? Christina still did not really believe in such a thing and finally answered: "That sounds really good, I'm already very curious about the promenade." It is just stupid that I have another way home like you. If I have to go there by car I can never drink anything, I wouldn't like it!"

Zoe grinned at Christina. "What do you like drinking?" She asked. Christine thought for a moment. "I like lovely white wine," she finally answered. Then she started laughing. "My mother always drank red wine, of course dry, I secretly have taken a bottle of it once, the stuff is really disgusting!" She looked at Zoe mischievously, grinning. "I like Rose wine too, and you?"

Zoe smiled, "I also really like sweet wine, which color it has, I do not care," she replied. "And if we're on the promenade or on the beach, you're just going to sleep on my sofa afterward!"

Then the two did the shopping and drove to Christina, who was the first to put all bed linen in the washing machine. Then, with Zoe's help, she brought the old mattress down to the cellar and put the new mattress on the bed.

"Do not you think the house is a bit scary," Zoe suddenly asked. "It's funny, sometimes the light is on here, although nobody lives here." "Well, it's strange," Christina answered. "But surely there is someone who takes care of everything here, but I'll find out."

The two women spent the day cleaning decorating and were very happy when everything was fixed. "Hey, you know, I'll change, and then we'll go to town, I'll invite you to dinner, as a little thank you, and then we'll go to the boardwalk."

"Hm, looks delicious," Christina said as the waitress set the plate of vegetable pizza in front of her. "Yes, you know," Zoe replied. "We used to go here more often when my parents were still alive, and we had the comic shop, but with Edgar and Alan, I never had a chance, they rejected everything that includes the word boardwalk."

Christina shook her head. "Well, I always found the two of them weird." Zoe nodded. "These are my brothers, and maybe I should not say that, because I know that they just wanted to protect me most of all, but they are stupid sometimes," Zoe explained. "Well, I still love them!"

Christina nodded. "Siblings," she answered. "I miss my two little ones, although sometimes they were exhausting, I hope they are fine, and my stepfather can handle them!" The two women looked thoughtfully at their plates.

"Do you want to go to the rides, or would you prefer to go for a walk to the beach," Zoe asked after a few minutes. "Hm, I'd love to do both, I heard there's this old carousel, I'd like to see that, and the other rides are interesting to me, and then we go to the beach," Christina said smiling. "And," she added, "my mother told me about the campfires and the parties that take place after the rides are closed for the night, I really would love to take a look."

"Okay," Zoe answered. "I like your plans, I'm so happy you are here!" When the two young women came to the old carousel, the promenade had filled with people of all ages and lifestyles.

"Wow," said Christina in astonishment. "That's really nice." Zoe smiled happily at finally having a real friend and just being on the boardwalk. "Hey, come on, we'll get tickets and go for a ride, which I have not done for ages."

Christina nodded and went to get the tickets.

At the same time, David and his three men were staying nearby, it was very rare that all four Lost Boys came together to the boardwalk. They behaved inconspicuously in contrast to the past. None of them addressed any women or caused any trouble, quite the contrary, if anything was going on, the Lost Boys were gone.

Paul was sitting on the wall separating the old carousel from another, David stood in front of it with his arms crossed on his chest, watching the crowd. Marko and Dwayne leafed through a magazine for motorcycle parts as they talked about how they could continue to beef up their machines.

"Hey, that's the sweet surprise," Paul exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the ticket booth of the old carousel. David followed Paul's outstretched arm with his eyes and then he saw her; a petite young woman.

Her dark hair reached down to her shoulders, she wore a black leather jacket in biker style, David froze, he knew this jacket because he had bought it. He had given it to Star. David remembered exactly how the soft leather felt. This jacket was not cheap at the time, but Star did not like the jacket and never wore it.

Christina had the jacket this evening combined with tight, faded jeans and biker boots. The young woman loved this jacket and actually wore it constantly.

Then the little girl turned around, swallowing at the smoke of his cigarette and starting to cough. Confused, he dropped the butt and burned his hand. He slammed the cigarette on the floor and could not believe what he saw. He almost felt like looking in a mirror, it was incredible.

He did not know that vampires were able to father children, but this young woman drove the Lost Boys' car, she was wearing the jacket David had given to Star and she looked very similar to him. He had a daughter!

For the first time in his life as a vampire, he had no sarcastic phrase in stock and was totally speechless. "What else did Max keep quiet about," he whispered, finally, totally perplexed, while Marko grinned at Paul, who of course laughed out loud.

"Do you like this surprise?", Marko asked placed his hand on David's shoulder, who still stood there petrified and staring at Christina. As Dwayne spotted the girl, a grin spread across his face.

"Well, my friend," Paul smirked, "looks like you've hit a bull's eye with Star." "The little one is cute, too," Marko said with a grin. "Congratulations Daddy," he added.

David slowly regained his composure while Dwayne put a hand on his shoulder. "Obviously, Star gave birth to your child, what did poor Michael say about that?"

"Did you know we could have children?" David asked, still completely surprised, without taking his eyes off Christina. Paul and Marko just shrugged their shoulders. "I never thought about it," Paul finally answered. "At least we now know why longer relationships were off limit for us! " Marko nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should be happy, who knows how many fang kids would be in this city!"

Now David grinned and said, "So she's driving around in our old car, okay, let's see what the kid does, and if it's okay, we'll just have to show her where she belongs!" "Sounds like a good show," Paul said with a grin.

The two girls spent some time at the rides when Christina finally said, "Hey Zoe, let's go down to the beach." Zoe nodded. "I'll just get a bottle of wine, then we can make ourselves comfortable on the beach." With these words, she disappeared into the house that belonged to the Frogs and came back shortly afterward with a bottle of wine.

A few minutes later, they reached the stairs that led to the beach when they heard the sound of several motorcycles coming closer. The two looked surprised because the street was at the other end of the boardwalk about a kilometer away.

Then headlights were at the top of the stairs. "They will not ..." Christina did not get any further. The first machine drove down, the driver honked twice and laughed loudly. The girls pressed against the handrail. The second machine drove down and the driver stared at Christina with a grin, recognizing him again; she had seen him and the third driver at the gas station when she arrived in Santa Carla.

The last machine slowly rode down the stairs, staring at Christina. Once down there, the man stopped briefly, turned to Christina and smiled mysteriously, then he accelerated and followed the others.

"What was that," Christina still asked confused. Zoe just shrugged. The two friends found a place between two campfires were some young people celebrated and quietly emptied the bottle of wine, then strolled slowly to Zoe's home, where Christina spent the night. At breakfast, Christina asked: "Tell me, the bikers at the beach, do you know them? The one who came down the stairs the last looked at me so weirdly."

Zoe shook her head, "I do not really know anybody here, except my workmates from the cafe, as I said, my brothers, did not let me to the boardwalk." "Well, I forgot, I'm looking forward to my new job at Boardwalkkids and I'm curious to see what awaits me, as my boss told me, I'll have to care for the children of the staff from the shops at the boardwalk."

"Yeah," replied Zoe, "this is a cool place to go, with the two classes at your disposal, the kids use the entire boardwalk, sometimes going on beach trips and stuff like that there are really great there, when are you going to start your job?"

"I'll start at two weeks. In the next few days, I will sign my contract, which I have to see the managing director of the billiard hall. He probably had the idea to build a kindergarten for the kids of the employees of the shops at the boardwalk. He is one of the funders."

Zoe smiled. "Max's cool, he's seen how difficult it sometimes can be for employees to accommodate kids depending on their working hours. He talked to the other business owners, and made sure everything went smoothly."


	4. Discovries

After breakfast, Christina went home to take a shower. She had seen that a few yards from the house where she lived led a small path into the forest. There she wanted to go now.

Christina loved walking alone in the woods. She liked the peace there. Already in her old home, she had fled into the woods often, when Michael's nastiness she had to endure almost every day became too much.

Christina absolutely did not understand her stepfather. She had never given him any reason to hate her like that. The opposite was the case. She followed his rules, even as a teenager, at the time when her mother was still alive.

Of course, Christina also had to get along with puberty, and like other girls that age, she became a bit rebellious. Still, she never behaved like this, when it got to deal with Michael.

If Michael said something to her or forbade her to do something, she would pout, but she would stick to it anyway. Christina wanted to please him. Michael was the only father Christina ever knew and she longed to get his recognition, which never happened.

The more dismissive Michael was about her, the more she tried to get it right. But no matter how much effort she made, Michael always found a reason to comment defiantly on Christina.

Christina considered the difficult relationship with her stepfather while putting on fresh jeans and comfortable shoes, then slipped into a sweatshirt jacket with the logo of her favorite band on the back. When she was done, she was ready to go.

It was really nice, there were paddocks on both sides of the small path, where there were horses that probably belonged to the rider's yard, which was about five hundred yards from Christina's flat.

At the end of the path, was the forest a small stream led through it, which Christina crossed over a wooden bridge. After about half a kilometer she turned right and stood in a clearing.

On the right side of the clearing stood a bench in the shade and Christina sat there for a few minutes. She decided to come here in the next few days with a book, a blanket, and enough coffee to enjoy the silence of the place a little longer.

On the other side of the clearing, another path brought Christina back to the street, and the young woman returned home. She got her laptop and the internet stick she bought on the boardwalk the evening before and checked if her brother would be online.

She wrote to him what she had experienced so much, that she liked the city well and that she had settled in well. He would answer her the moment he would notice the message. Then she remembered that she had not seen Laddie, a friend of her mother, since her mother's funeral ten years ago. Laddie had been living with Christina's parents for a while. He was a little boy of eight at the time, a runaway.

Star, who herself had run away from home at that time, found him completely neglected on the boardwalk and took care of him, together with Christina's own father and his three friends.

When the Emersons left Santa Carla, Michael refused to take the boy with him, so Laddie was given to a foster home in Modesto. However, Star always kept contact with the boy until she died.

Laddie was a few years older than Christina, but the two had always got along well. The young woman then checked to see if there was a Facebook profile of Laddie Thompson and was lucky.

She sent him a friend request and a message informing him that she had moved to Santa Carla and would be glad if he answered and that they might see each other again.

After Christina had eaten a bite, she drove to the other side of the city with her car. She planed to find the path which led up to the cliffs. The view of the sea and the boardwalk had to be very impressive and she didn't want to walk all the way.

After a while she parked the car, she had actually managed to find the right way straight away. It was gorgeous up there, a great view, no people around and all she heard was the thunder of waves against the cliffs, some birds and the rush of the wind.

She walked a few yards in each direction, suddenly saw an old wooden staircase that led to an old bridge with warning signs. "Beware of mortal danger" stood on one sign, "forbidden to enter" on the other one.

But since Christina was a very curious person who always would take a chance for an adventure, she crossed the bridge and slowly climbed down the stairs. Down below she saw the entrance to a cave and went inside. "Man, that's gross," she said aloud when she saw the inside.

It looked like the lobby of a hotel you've seen in movies that were playing in very old times. She wondered how it had gotten there. She looked around and found that there was obviously someone there at least once in a while.

On one wall stood a red big toolbox with wheels. It had several drawers. Christina became curious and opened the top drawer. In it were screwdrivers and wrenches accurate sorted by size.

In one corner of the room were several sofas, on the wooden chest, which stood in the middle of the sofas, there was a manual for motorcycles. On one of the sofas lay several computer magazines.

In the middle of the room, there was a fountain, a chandelier was in it. The whole room was decorated with garlands of seashells old records and other sorts of stuff. It all looked very beautiful. Empty beer cans and whiskey bottles were lying around on the floor.

In the back of the lobby was a heavy canopy bed with curtains, or what was left of it. On the bed lay a colorful jacket that seemed to be nothing but patches, dusty as it was, probably no one was wearing the piece of art anymore.

Christina walked over to the bed and picked up the jacket. She shook off the coarsest dust and studied the garment. Since someone had invested a lot of love and time. According to the patches they belonged to a man.

Obviously, someone who had been very skillfully with needle and thread had sewn all the patches by hand to the jacket. The stitches were not as uniform as those of a sewing machine, but very close to it.

It was a mystery to Christina why this unique piece of clothing simply lay carelessly on the bed if she had such a jacket, she would wear it all the time.

Christina suddenly a strange feeling got her and she felt like an intruder. All this obviously belonged to someone, she had no right to be in there, and it was forbidden and dangerous too.

She gently placed the jacket back on the bed and smoothed it, then left the cave again. It was almost evening and she did not want to drive back when it was already dark, there was no street lights up here and there were some deep potholes along the way and thick branches to drive around.

Once home, she sat back down at the laptop to see if she had any messages from Laddie or Robin, and indeed, both had written back to her. Robin wrote that he and Denise were missing her and would love to visit her on vacation, but Michael didn't allow it, otherwise, everything else at home ran as usual.

Laddie's message was a little longer.

"Hi, Christina,

I was very happy to read your message, so you finally made it out of the boring town.

I'm still in touch with Lucy, she told me, that the relationship between your stepfather

and you had gotten very difficult. But she still doesn't want you to be in Santa Carla.

Lucy wonders how Michael will get along with Robin and Denise without you.

I told her, that I always missed Santa Carla, and especially the people that cared for me

all this time ago.

Of course, she didn't understand. But that is Lucy! I would love to visit you at one of the

next weekends.

I'll bring an air bed and my sleeping bag, so you don't need to worry about it.

I'm looking forward to finally see you again.

Laddie"

"Hello Laddie," Christina wrote back. "You can sleep on my couch and I have a sleeping bag here, you don't need to worry about it. I am totally looking forward to your visit, just write when exactly you want to come." Then she sent him the exact address and packed the laptop away again.


	5. The vampire

It was 3:30 in the morning, Christina rolled over in her sleep. She dreamed of Michael's last attack, as she often did, only this time she was burning. Michael stood by the fire grinning sneeringly as he kept shouting, "The witch is supposed to burn!"

Christina's siblings were on the other side, desperate because they could not help, and they were crying. Christina woke up wet of sweat. Sleep was out of the question, so she put on jeans, a sweater, and some comfortable boots. She made a coffee to walk, took her flashlight from the drawer in the hall, and left the house.

Christina walked along the path that led into the forest. The paddocks were empty, the horses spent the night in the stable. The young woman was glad that she had thought of her flashlight, otherwise, she would have stumbled over protruding tree roots several times in the dark.

She was lost in thought that she did not notice the campfire in the clearing and the figure staring at her from the other side. When Christina finally looked up, he grinned and she stopped dead in her tracks.

She saw his leather jacket hanging from a branch beside him, then she looked at his face, which was strangely deformed. He had long, pointed catches and was still staring at Christina with a grin and yellow blood-red-rimmed pupils. His face was framed by long, almost black hair.

The whole figure looked very beautiful in a bizarre way, but also very scary. Only the fire was between them and an inner voice screamed at her: "Vampire ... run as fast as you can!"

But Christina could not run, her legs just did not obey her. She just looked at him in horror. Then he suddenly stood before her. She had not even noticed that he had moved at all.

"Well, little lady, have you got lost," he asked with a gruff voice, still grinning. Then he pressed her with one hand against one of the trees that stood behind her and she whimpered.

Christina just reached to his chest and she noticed the eye-catching necklace he wore. It consisted of several interwoven leather straps on which hung various things, such as shells, colorful beads, and an old key.

He stared straight into her eyes and his grin widened. She panicked and tried to scream, but she could not make any sound. Her heart was pounding like crazy.

"And what am I going to do with you," he asked amused. Suddenly he grabbed her by the neck and brutally pressed her against the tree, she could barely breathe.

She closed her eyes and as she felt his teeth against her neck, tears ran down her face. An inner voice just shouted: "No, no, no ...!" She punched the vampire with her fists.

He grabbed her hands with his free hand and squeezed them over her head against the tree. The rough tree bark caused burning abrasions. Then she tried to kick him, but he just put his knee between her legs, so that she was almost unable to move.

"Oh, we have a little kitty here," he whispered, then she felt his teeth piercing her throat again, tearing her delicate skin, something warm running down there.

"Do not do that," she suddenly heard another male voice. "Not her!" A deep growl came from the vampire's throat, but he actually let it go. "Today is your lucky day, little lady," he said in a harsh voice. "But we'll meet again," he added with a laugh.

She heard him take off his leather jacket on the far side of the clearing and something hit her shoulder. "Here, to calm down, and if you wake up tomorrow morning, you don't remember what had happened," she heard the other male voice say, then it was quiet.

Christina did not dare to open her eyes, slumped and gasped. She remained shocked and terrified for a while, sitting on the cool forest floor, tears streaming down her cheeks.

When she finally looked around, she was, of course, alone. Then she saw the object that had flown against her shoulder; a pack of John Player with a lighter in it. "Aha, that should help calm down, as if I could do this now, silly arsehole," she said angrily to herself but still lit a cigarette.

Eventually, she fainted. When she woke up again, she slowly got up and looked around the clearing in confusion. She did not know anymore what had happened.

She ran home as if the devil in person would be after her. She stumbled a few times over tree roots sticking out of the ground and sharp stones pierced her knees through her jeans.

Christina's neck hurt in the places where he had held her and bit her, and blood was still running out of the small wounds. When she reached her apartment, she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. She sat down in the dark on the couch, cried silently to herself and finally fell asleep there.


	6. Justifications

Paul was looking for Dwayne all night. He finally found him in the woods in the small clearing that was not far from the house on the outskirts. He had the little one in a stranglehold and was about to drink from her. She hit Dwayne's chest with her small fists, but of course, it did not help her.

She would never stand a chance against Dwayne, against any of them. When she tried to kick him, he put his left knee between her legs so that she could not fight back. Those vampires were able to even father children, the Lost Boys had not known until Christina crossed their path by chance.

Max, David's sire, must have known it because he repeatedly told the younger vampires that they should not let their sexual escapades live. At the beginning Paul had no problems with that, he and his brothers had the ability to manipulate people.

For most mortals, one glance was enough, and the vampires could do whatever they wanted with them. Few people had enough of their own will to resist the vampires, but the Lost Boys considered that a challenge, and in the end, they got what they wanted.

So Paul seduced a lot of women over the years, and he finally killed them all. At some point, however, the tall blond vampire realized that not mortals were the losers in the game because the mortals died and had no more problems.

Paul, however, remained lonely, and this loneliness gnawed at him. He was pissed that when he met a woman he liked, he would spend some time with her, somehow fell in love with her, and when it came down to it, he had to kill her - Paul did not want that anymore.

Sure, he was a vampire, and he loved to be one of them, but he was neither cold-hearted nor a thoughtless killer, just like his brothers. Secretly, the vampires longed for feminine company, with a woman at their side, a woman they did not need to hide their true self from.

Paul imagined it wonderful to have someone at his side whom to trust, without fear of being stalked during sleep. But Max forbade the Lost Boys these amenities and condemned them to this lonely life in their men's den. Well, if Paul was thinking of Christina's mother now, he could also come to the conclusion that Max had imposed this rule on them to protect "his sons," but Paul knew Max too well.

The former vampire boss was never about David and his boys. Max already had sons before of them, at least he had said that. He had destroyed them himself when he was tired of them, and David was sure back then that the Lost Boys were about to share this fate.

Max was already working on a more fitting pack than David and his rebellious children. Max was very old and very powerful, no matter how much strength the Lost Boys had, they would have never been able to defend themselves against Max.

Al least this was done by mortals, Michael Emerson, and his grandfather. David knew exactly what Max had in mind. David already knew that Max was looking for a new family, therefore, he eventually ignored Max Rule when the Lost Boys found Star on the beach.

The leader of the motorcycle gang actually managed to keep Star secret from Max for a while. When Max learned of the young woman's existence, he ordered David very rudely to kill Star immediately. David ignored that and instead made Star one of them, and that little mistake was the beginning of their almost dead. David let Star drink Max's blood, he knew it wouldn't be easy for Max now to kill Star himself. David knew that Max would give her a chance, but she failed.

Well, David was a complicated, inscrutable creature, and pretty stubborn. He always knew exactly what he was doing; therefore, Dwayne, Marko, and Paul were made with David's blood. A fact that annoyed Max, what made David very happy.

Paul had only once seen David so furious that he completely forgot himself and went aimlessly at vengeance, which was in July 1987. Well, the consequence of David's stubborn behavior was unfortunately at the wrong time in the wrong place, and obviously walked directly into Dwayne's arms. The brunette vampire was just about to take care of the little one.

Paul could see exactly what Dwayne was feeling right now because obviously, the blood of a child conceived by a vampire was like a drug to the other vampires in the pack. The body odor of the little one alone was like an invitation!

Something had happened to Christina's bad luck that almost never happened - Dwayne had completely lost control of his actions, he was always thoughtful and calm. But now Paul had to stop him!

For a moment he looked at the event fascinating. Paul smelled the blood running down her neck and it was hard for him not to lose control himself. But he held back, just as he kept Dwayne back, she was one of them, though she had no idea. Dwayne growled at him, but finally, let the little one go.

The young woman's injuries were thankfully not life-threatening. She had a couple of bruises and a bite mark on her throat, from which some blood dripped out. After Dwayne licked most of the blood the mark started healing.

The good thing was that the saliva of a vampire made open wounds heal faster. It would only take a few minutes, then only a small wound would be left of Dwayne's bite, and in a few days it would be gone completely, but the spot would still be sensitive for a while, causing pain if Christina would touch it.

The hematoma on Christina's neck that Dwayne had caused by his grip, well, that would take a little more time to heal. Paul was aware that the young woman had to be completely traumatized, but there was also a solution to this problem.

Vampires had the ability to manipulate people's memory, and that ability was used by the tall blond vampire. The little one would have absolutely no idea at the latest the next morning what had happened to her in the forest and where she had sustained the injuries.

However, this manipulation was associated with some somewhat unpleasant side effects. The young woman would almost certainly develop fears she had not had before. It could very well be that she was suddenly afraid of being out alone during the dark and probably would be more suspicious of other people, especially strangers, than usual.

However, Paul accepted the side effects because it was beyond question that the young woman would find out what kind of species her own father and her future family were.

Christina was a smoker, Paul knew that, and from his own experience, of course, he also knew that nicotine would "get you down." He could not imagine the young woman taking cigarettes into the woods because of the forest fire danger.

Dwayne, who liked to walk in the woods, kept pointing his perplexing brothers to this danger, and meanwhile, David did not even dare to smoke in the forest in Dwayne's presence. The leader of the Lost Boys simply had no need for the dark-haired vampire's long lectures. Dwayne in all those years had never forgotten where he came from and what he had learned in tribal life, namely to respect nature!

But this was an unusual situation, so Paul looked over the fire and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit one each for Dwayne and himself, then put the cheap plastic lighter in the pack and threw it over to the young woman.

The pack hit the little girl's shoulder and she winced. Paul grinned and looked at Dwayne, who looked at his fag a little thoughtfully, but then finally took a pull, then the two vampires flew away.

When the two vampires reached Hudson's Bluff, Paul placed his hand on Dwayne's shoulder. "That was close," he finally said. "I understand that you want the girl, as well as Marko and me, but she's David's kid and out of limit."

Dwayne looked at Paul thoughtfully and then said, "I know that, but she suddenly stood in front of me while I was doing a tribal ritual, and her beguiling scent drove me crazy, and then I smelled her fear, I could not stand anymore. And why did she have to take a walk into the forest in the middle of the night? It's about time she comes home, otherwise, she'll soon be done!"

Paul just nodded smiling and the two entered the cave. David stood in front of the old fountain, which was in the middle of the cave, and annoyed watched Marko, who was very angry running into every corner of the cave.

"What's going on here," Paul asked. "Someone was here, don't you be able to smell that," Marko complained, looking petrified, and stopped by the bed, on which his old jacket set. Marko had bad memories; since he was staked while wearing his handmade, colorful jacket. Therefore, he didn't wear it anymore.

Paul and Dwayne looked at each other. Both recognized Christina's smell immediately, they had been so close to her in the forest. Paul was about to say something, but Dwayne shook his head no, so Paul kept his mouth shut.

"I do not smell anything unusual," Dwayne said and Paul just shrugged. David looked at the two in surprise. He knew even before he had entered the cave with Marko that his little girl had been there. Christ, he was a vampire and therefore had a very good sense of smell. He did not really need to come near Christina to sniff her body odor.

It was a mystery to David that Marko did not immediately recognize this fragrance. David wondered anyway because usually, no one ventured into the vicinity of the sunken hotel, the inhabitants of the city were sure that evil spirits lived there, well, somehow they were right with this assumption.

On the other hand, Christina moved to Santa Carla only a little time ago, she didn't know the town, as well as other people, did. And he wondered, would Christina listen to rumors about Hudsons Bluff? After all, David was sure, that his daughter couldn't be purely human. He was a vampire and Christina's mother was a half-vampire at the time of Christina's procreation. Maybe she felt something like being home when she was in the cave.

David knew immediately that Paul and Dwayne were pretending to him, and now he wanted to know why! Dwayne looked at the floor, guilty. He had her blood on his tongue and was struggling with his conscience because she was David's child, after all, and that made her one of them. "Okay, what's up, Dwayne," David finally asked. "Paul," he added with a serious expression.

Paul and Marko met Christina at the gas station when they arrived in Santa Carla. David knew Paul well, so he knew that Christina's scent would be the first thing Paul would remember. The tall, blonde vampire would be able to sniff her scent from a really big distance.

That was Paul's way of "watching" his potential victims before the opportunity arose to seize them. "What should be up?" Paul asked with a grin and then also looked down at the floor with a guilty face. David was silent for a while and smiled at his companions.

"She suddenly stood before me in the forest," Dwayne said suddenly. Marko and David looked over at him, confused. "Who," Marko asked after a few seconds. "Your little one," Dwayne replied, looking David in the eyes.

"When did it happen and what did you do to her?" David asked, realizing what Dwayne had just confessed him. David didn't wait for Dwayne's answer and rushed toward Dwayne, but the dark-haired vampire had expected such a response from his sire. It was never smart to mess with David when he was angry, so Dwayne just stepped out of David's way.

"Paul came just in time and prevented worse, she'll be fine in a few days," Dwayne replied. "I could barely control myself," Paul said placatingly. David and Marko shook their heads, the two vampires now chuckling, "I know you're all looking forward to having a little sister soon," David said. "And I'm happy, too, but we can not just grab her and drag her in. I mean, we could, but then she'd just react as her mother did all those years ago, she must see the positive aspects of our existence! "The three other vampires looked at him thoughtfully, but no one answered.

David looked down at the floor. "Now it'll get harder, because even though she can not remember meeting Dwayne, instinctively she'll be scared of him and not easily trust us," David said. "But my blood is in her veins, so hopefully that will make it easier for us, so we just have to wait for the right opportunity! She will join our club, whether she wants it or not! She is my child and I want her at my side! And I'm not willing to wait for much longer than necessary!"


	7. The eye-catching necklace

It had been two weeks since Christina had met the vampire in the woods, but of course, she had no clue what really had happened to her that night. The young woman woke up the next morning and noticed the injuries Dwayne had inflicted on her.

All she knew was that she had a nightmare and could not sleep anymore. So she went for a walk in the woods. Christina remembered that she walked along the forest path and finally reached the small clearing.

Something had to happen there, but she just had no idea what! She had lost consciousness, and when she woke up again she was sitting on the damp, cold floor, leaning at a tree.

She was in a panic. Her neck and her hands hurt her terribly. Where these injuries came from she simply did not know, because in her brain instead of memory was only a big, black hole.

After all, she had run home in a panic, not thinking of her flashlight lying on the floor. As a result, she repeatedly stumbled over tree roots and fell down several times.

So Christina finally returned home with dirty, torn jeans and bloody knees. She locked the front door and the door of the apartment and dropped to the sofa, completely exhausted. She thought about calling Zoe, but she just did not have the strength to go over to the phone, and besides - what should she have told her friend? Christina persuaded herself that she would get along, she had finally gotten worse.

When Christina woke up the next morning, she went to the bathroom and took care of her injuries. On the right side of her neck were two marks. As a child, Christina had approached a dog from behind to pet him. The otherwise friendly dog was scared and bit her. The marks on her neck reminded Christina of the wound the dog had left on her at the time.

There was a hematoma on her throat, it shimmered blue lilac and was very painful. Crusts had already formed over the lacerations on the knees and the abrasions on her hands were burning.

Christina hid the wounds on her neck under a large scarf, which was not exactly pleasant because of the hematoma, but she had no desire to answer any questions from her colleagues during the coming days.

The injuries on her hands - well, she would simply tell her workmates that she had a crash with her bicycle. And as far as the knees were concerned, she put a plaster on her wounds and put on clean jeans.

Honestly, she was pretty happy she had the day off. In the ensuing time, she focused on her work and tried to forget about that night. Christina stayed at work until four o'clock every day.

After the incident in the forest, she had become accustomed to doing the shopping and other things on the way home, instead of going to her apartment as before, where she ate a bite and had a fresh cup of coffee.

Christina was always hungry when she left the boardwalkkids and it was never a good idea to go to the grocery store like this. Most of the time she would buy more than she could eat and eventually throw away food.

Christina didn't like that, her mother had taught her from childhood on, not to throw away food. There were enough people in the world, even in the US, who did not have enough food.

Christina's mother herself, as a young woman, had learned how hard life on the streets was before she met Christina's father, and of course, she passed this knowledge on to Christina. Star wanted her kids to cherish a roof over their heads and enough food, and Christina had just done that.

Well, what should Christina do, during this time of the year, it was dark early in the evening, and Christina just did not want to leave her apartment. She could not explain suddenly appeared fear of the dark because especially in the dark she had always been happy to be outside. Then not so many people were out and about and it was getting quieter.

Christina loved to look at the moon and the stars. Now she only did that from her balcony door while she was smoking a cigarette. She only went out in the darkness when it was absolutely unavoidable, for example when she had to go to work in the morning.

For this reason, Christina also avoided visiting Zoe in the cafe. Unfortunately, Zoe had been on duty every day until eleven in the evening for a few weeks because a colleague had quit and no new employee had been hired. It looked like it would stay that way for a while.

Zoe was Christina's only private contact. Her colleagues at Boardwalkkids were very nice and working with them was great, but they were all busy with their own families and had no time left after work.

Christina spent her time off from work alone. That changed sometime later. Donald, the owner of the pool hall, came to meet her as she was on her way to her car.

Donald Forbes moved from Edinburgh to Santa Carla a few years ago. He had met Sammy, his wife, who was on vacation in his hometown and fell in love with her. The pool hall belonged to Sammy's uncle and he offered the likable Scotsman a job.

Donald was a friendly, attentive man who was very popular with customers. It was not long before Sammy's uncle handed over the hall to Donald and Sammy for retiring. Donald observed that his employees frequently gave up their jobs after a very short time, although they felt comfortable in the hall because the working hours did not match their childcare hours.

After some talks with the women, he had something in his mind. He talked to the other business owners and finally they installed a kindergarten near the pool hall. The store's employees now had the opportunity to bring their children to the facility on the way to work and pick them up when they finished work.

Some of Christina's colleagues worked in the shifting service while Christina herself had fixed working hours. But she also earned less. Donald knew that, so he addressed the young woman this afternoon.

"Hello, Christina, nice to see you, how are you?", He asked her and held out her hand in greeting. Christina smiled. "Thanks, I'm fine, and is everything okay with you?" she asked, taking his hand to shake it.

Donald smiled too. "Well, to be honest, I'm glad I met you," he explained. "We do not see each other that often because I'm usually here when you're already home, and I'm only here because Linda and Stacy got sick and will be out for a long time."

Christina looked at Donald in surprise because she did not know exactly why he told her about his problems in the hall. Donald seemed to guess her thoughts. "Christina, I know that you earn less than most of your colleagues, and I know that you are very reliable, so I wondered if you might not be interested in earning some extra money."

"Are you just offering me a job in your pool hall?" Christina asked irritated. Donald nodded. "Exactly," he answered. "I realize that life in this city is quite expensive, especially for young, single people, and you would really help me if you were willing to join in for two or three days a week for about two hours in the early evening. Unfortunately, my wife can not do that because of our children, and I do not think it's good when Maria is all alone in the hall."

Christina nodded and thought for a moment. On the one hand, accepting the offer would mean that she would have to leave the house during the dark, which she really was scared to do. On the other hand, she liked Donald very much, after all, he had also helped her when it came to finding out who she had to transfer the rent for her apartment.

Donald had then referred Christina to Maria, his longest-serving employee. She had spent her entire life in Santa Carla and knew almost everything that was going on in town.

The house where Christina lived was owned by Maria's former boss and his four sons. They suddenly did not show up any more many years ago, but Maria knew that a lawyer was taking care of the house, and Christina had contacted him to settle the matter. And apart from that, Donald was right, renting the flat was not cheap, and Christina could use extra income just fine.

She was thinking about moving. She did not feel safe in her apartment anymore because it was very close to the forest where "whatever" had happened. Well, moving was expensive and if she was unlucky, she would have to buy a complete setup.

Her demands for such things were not very high, she was very grateful for trifles, but she liked it cozy anyway. Christina knew that she could not implement this plan from the money she got from her job in the kindergarten, and the cash from the casket that her Mother had inherited her was almost spent.

Donald noticed, of course, that Christina hesitated, and again he seemed to know why. "Christina, listen, I know that as a young woman, you do not like to be alone on the boardwalk in the evening," he remarked. "How about using my parking lot in front of the pool hall when you're there? I really do not mind parking my car in the public car park at the other end of the boardwalk."

Christina nodded. "Okay," she finally said. "You're absolutely right, I have some plans and I really need the money." Donald smiled with relief. "I'm glad, thank you. If you're not in a hurry, we can go to my office and you can fill in the recruitment form so I can sign you up as a new colleague tomorrow morning," he suggested. "If you want, you can start tomorrow. You will work with Maria. She'll show you everything, and she sure will be happy about your support."

"Okay, let's do it all together, "Christina replied," and I can start tomorrow, otherwise I have no plans." She had a queasy feeling if she imagined that it would be dark at that time she would go to the pool hall, but she also knew that somehow she had to get over this fear. She was a grown woman and did not want to sit at home alone for the rest of her life. Sometimes she loved to go out, she liked to dance.

When Christina arrived in the hall at the next evening, it was still pretty quiet, Maria was there all alone. When she noticed Christina, she happily came out of the bar area and greeted her new colleague. "I was very happy when Donald told me that you will help us," she said. "You will certainly like it here. Most customers are very nice!" Then she took Christina by the hand and pulled the young woman into the bar area, Maria opened a cupboard, "Here you can put your jacket and bag in," she explained.

Christina nodded smiling, she liked the warm-hearted woman. After Christina stowed her things in the closet, Maria showed her the rest of the hall. "Okay, your job is easy," the older woman explained as they sat with coffee in the counter area. Most of the guests come here to play billiards. The ques and the balls are only issued for a deposit of twenty dollars, there are no exceptions! You can assume that some of the younger people will refuse to give the pledge to you first because you're new here and they'll test you out."

Christina nodded." Good, I'm fine with that," she replied. Maria pointed to the coffee machine. "You have to ensure that always fresh coffee is available and that enough Coke, lemonade and sparkling water in the fridge. For the people who play here, all drinks are free, for all others, the prices on the list are over there. You have just seen the small room, which is located in the back of the hall, there, only people who are at least twenty-one years old are allowed in, because there are hanging gambling machines. If you are not sure about the age of the people, you are entitled to ask for their ID. Well, you have to keep order at the individual tables, most players bring their cups and empty bottles back, but some leave everything standing around. In between, we make sure that the gambling machines are clean, glass cleaner and kitchen towels are under the sink over there, oh well, if you have enough dishes together, please turn on the dishwasher. And last but not least, in this drawer is the cash register to change money. Before you leave in the evening we will check the cash. When Donald is in here, then he is responsible for the cash register. I know that sounds like a lot, but when you are working for a while, you'll get used to everything very quick!"

While the two women were sitting behind the counter, Maria looked at Christina thoughtfully, and she had already noticed the day Christina asked her about the lawyer responsible for the house where her apartment was located, that the young woman looked very familiar to her.

"You're not from here, are you?" Maria finally asked with interest. Christina shook her head, "I'm from a small town near Washington," she replied. "I was born here, but my parents moved houses when I was about two weeks old, they did not live here for long, why?" She asked. "Oh, I'm just curious," replied Maria, pouring a fresh coffee into her cup. Maria just could not help herself, she had never forgotten the four sons of her old boss.

Mr. Williams, who had been selling and lending videos in a shop at the other end of the boardwalk, had always warned the then twenty-year-old about the four young men. Maria could never understand that because the four were always polite to her.

The "Lost Boys", as the gang called themselves, looked very wild and came every evening to the boardwalk by their motorcycles, but she had never heard a bad word from them.

One day, Max Williams disappeared without a trace. Maria never saw the Lost Boys again. Maybe Maria's imagination played a prank on her, but it struck her right away. Christina looked so damn similar to the Lost Boys' leader.

His face was very memorable, he had charisma; Maria was just sure! Christina had the same delicately curved lips as he did, as well as icy blue eyes. The young woman was very pale, which was extremely rare for people who lived in this state - in Santa Carla, the sun finally shone almost every day.

Even though Christina grew up in another state, she had been in town for a while now. Christina's pallor seemed somehow unnatural, Maria was very hopeful that the young woman was not suffering from serious illness because she liked Christina.

Maria loved the many freckles in Christina's face. Maria suspected that the young woman often had to show her ID if she wanted to go to any club or get into a police check with her car because Christina had grown so short that at first glance she looked like a very young girl.

Well, Maria still wondered if she would just fake it all up because she had been confused for some time anyway. A few weeks ago, a young man with long dark brown hair entered the pool hall, and if Maria hadn't known better, she would have taken him for Dwayne, a member of the Lost Boys.

But that was completely out of the question because Dwayne would have to be well over fifty years old by now. The young man, however, was only in his twenties. She remembered him so much because she was very much in love with the quiet, mysterious Dwayne as a young woman. Unfortunately, there was never a conversation between Maria and Dwayne because Mr. Williams always threw his sons out of his video store.

Mr. Williams always treated his staff very well and was extremely friendly to them, but he always treated his sons with disrespect. Anyway, Maria always wondered why the four young men did not look a bit like each other, and they had no similarity with Mr. Williams.

But she never had the courage to ask her former boss, and it was none of her business. Maybe the four had just different mothers, Mr. Williams was not married after all.

Of course, Maria could not know that the young man she had seen was actually Dwayne. He loved playing billiards and he was playing for money. Usually, he drove to a billiard hall in the neighboring village, where he almost always found someone who was up for a match against Dwayne.

Mostly he won what earned him the money that he needed for his little things like cigarettes or drinks. Dwayne was pretty frugal, he usually wore his clothes until they almost fell apart.

He was not stingy, he just did not see the point in buying new jeans or shirts all the time. He had gotten his leather jacket after he came back from his grave many years after the defeat at Michael's grandfather's house. He rarely wore a shirt, because he usually messed with the blood of his victims and then had to dispose of them anyway.

Well, the hall in the neighboring village was currently closed for modernization work, so he went to Donald's hall. There he discovered Maria, who was on duty.

Startled, he left the place again. He hoped that Maria had not recognized him. The Lost Boys did not want anyone to know that they were still there.

Dwayne had to smile. Of course, unlike him, Maria had gotten older and she was a bit chubby, but otherwise, she still looked exactly like she did then. The brunette vampire liked her smile and her curls. In Dwayne's eyes she was still a beautiful woman, he had always valued her, for she was warm and friendly behavior.

He had nevertheless refrained from addressing her because Max did not want one of the Lost Boys approaching his staff. So he stayed away from Maria to protect his brothers, himself and Maria. However, that did not stop Paul from chatting up Maria all the time because the big blond vampire knew that Dwayne wanted to get to know the woman better. Paul thought Dwayne might be too shy, but that was not the case.

Paul had not known Dante, David's older brother years ago when he thought he had found his soulmate, which was extremely rare for a vampire. Unfortunately, even Marko never met Dante.

Max had the idea many years ago, to lure in a whole family, just as he intended with Lucy, Michael and Sam. Max was then interested in Margret, a widow. She was the mother of Dante and David.

Max first lured Dante with a well-paid job. Margret and her sons were not rich, so Dante groped in Max's trap. Finally, Max turned Dante into a vampire. Next was David's turn.

Dante tried to keep Max away from David, of course unsuccessful, Max was far too cunning and much stronger than Dante. When David, who had only been twenty years old at the time, finally realized what game Max was playing with him, it was already too late.

Max let David one choice, either he would change completely, or Max would kill Margret. David loved his mother and did not think long. Margret, however, was nowhere near as naïve as Max had believed; she did not allow herself to be caressed by him.

With her negative attitude, she hurt Max' pride, so he killed Margret. David vowed then, no matter how long it would take, he would at some point take revenge on Max!

Dante and David were young, and Max was their sire, it was hardly possible for the brothers to do anything about him because he always knew exactly what they were up to through their mental connection. So they had no choice but to stay with Max until at some point there would be an opportunity to avenge him.

It took many more years before Dwayne was accepted into the family. At the time, Max was abroad, leaving his sons, as he used to call Dante and David, a small bottle of his blood for emergency use. This gave the two younger vampires the idea that it was possible to create vampires with their own blood as well.

When Dante and David met Dwayne, they came to the conclusion that he would be a good fit for them. Dante and David had long since realized that they could not do anything about Max themselves. But what if they created more vampires who had no mental connection to Max? So they got another small bottle, which they filled with a mix of their blood, they finally gave it to Dwayne and one night later he was one of them.

When Max was back and learned about their plot, he was annoyed to no end. Max almost drained poor Dwayne completely and then forced his own blood into Dwayne. Even though Max kept forcing Dwayne to drink his blood, Dwayne just took in double the amount of Dante's and David's blood.

That's how Dwayne spent many years making his mental connection to Max very weak. At some point, however, Dwayne did not let Max force him anymore and Max finally left him alone.

About ten years later, Dante got to know Linda and made her his mate, but even then, Max knew it immediately and killed Linda. Dante was totally desperate. One night later, when David and Dwayne woke up, they found a letter from Dante. He had left the hiding place of the vampires during the day and was burned in the sun.

All that was left of Dante was his silver bangle and the eye-catching necklace, which consisted of several intertwined leather straps with various other objects hanging next to an antique key. Ever since that fateful night, David has been wearing the bangle and Dwayne the necklace.

Dante had made this gem himself. Of course, Dwayne had never forgotten about Dante's fate, since he had lost one of his sires. It was Dante's story that kept Dwayne from addressing Maria. He did not want to endanger her.

In fact, Dwayne Maria had never forgotten Maria, he still liked her very much. But Maria was now a grown woman, and her life had finally gone on after the Lost Boys disappeared all those years ago. She certainly had her own family, a husband, children, maybe even grandchildren. What kind of man would Dwayne be if he would take that away from her?

Dwayne was not a sentimental idiot, but he was fair. Maria looked happy, and Dwayne was not selfish enough to destroy that luck. Knowing that Maria was working in the billiard hall, he did not go in there anymore, but Dwayne still could not stay away.

He often stayed near the hall, content to watch Maria through the window. Paul would surely make fun of Dwayne if he ever found out. That did not matter to Dwayne, he was the only one of the Lost Boys who went to this end of the boardwalk anyway because there was not much interesting here. Marko and Paul usually stayed at the other end, there were rides and snack bars. In addition, the two did not come every evening.

David felt that the permanent residency at the boardwalk had led the vampires to their downfall all the years ago so it was very rare that he joined his brothers when they planned to roam the place. Therefore he preferred to stay away. The only positive thing about this defeat back then was that the Lost Boys were finally freed by Max. Ironically, he was the only one of the vampires who actually bit the grass, he was burned.

Well, let alone that, after David came back from his grave, he was summoned to City Hall by Carl Owens, the mayor of the city. Carl was not human either, which of course the inhabitants of Santa Carla did not know - Carl was a werewolf, as was the rest of his family.

He had imposed a series of rules on David and made it clear that these were important for the different species to live together in a kind of coexistence in the city.

Of course, David was not at all enthusiastic, but he knew that the wolves would be able to destroy the vampires during the day. Although vampires were actually stronger than the wolves, but easily wounded during the day, so the Lost Boys tried hard to comply with the rules of the mayor as far as possible.

The Lost Boys were still a wild gang, they were still doing what they wanted, but since the four of them had recovered from the incident at Michael's grandfather's house, they were frankly very happy that all of them had survived, they had matured.

They had realized that they were arrogant at the time and considered themselves invulnerable. David and his boys had simply underestimated these children. In retrospect, the vampires were glad that no one had come up with the idea of burning their remains or simply exposing them to sunlight, that really would have been their end.

David was in a twilight state at the time. He had heard that Michael's mother had insisted that the remains of the four be reasonably buried. And so the Lost Boys rested for a time in the dark earth under the paddock behind the house of Michael's grandfather.

The two had even taken the trouble to get Marko's body out of the cave and buried him next to his brothers. In theory, David, who was the least seriously injured, could have gotten up at once, but he knew exactly how Dwayne and Paul were suffering, the both of them would need a long rest to let their wounds heal. So David stayed in his grave.

About ten years later, when the Emersons and grandfather had long since disappeared from the city, he heard Marko's voice in his head. Marko's healing process was almost complete, and Marko was very hungry.

Dwayne smiled as the thoughts flashed through his mind. He looked through the window at Maria again, she was no longer alone in the bar area. When Dwayne recognized the second person, he laughed to himself - it was Christina. "Hello, little lady," he whispered, still amused, before making his way to his motorcycle.

On her second night in the billiard hall, Maria asked Christina to change some money in the Asian snack bar at the other end of the building, as the cash was in short supply. Donald was not in the hall, and only he had a key to the small safe. It did not happen that often to Maria, but if it did, she could send an employee to Mr. Xia at any time. He was the owner of the Asian snack. Mr. Xia was a passionate billiard player and regular in the hall. He always helped Maria out.

Christina was of the idea that she would now have to go along the badly lit path, of course, not so enthusiastic, she found this dark corner pretty scary, and was afraid. Thankfully there were some people out there so she was not all alone.

She turned her eyes to the floor and stepped determinedly, but with a queasy feeling out of the door. She stopped for a moment and looked around. Then she started walking with her head down. Thousands of thoughts pounded through her mind, and she kept wondering what had happened that night in the forest because whatever had happened to her had triggered that fear in her.

Unfortunately, she did not pay much attention to where she ran, and after a few meters, her forehead collided with a young man's chest. Christina looked embarrassed into his face. "Sorry," she said, feeling her own face heat up.

The man had long, very dark brown hair and dark eyes as well. He smiled in amusement as he looked at Christina. He had smelled her the moment she stepped out of the hall. Dwayne saw her approaching, but instead of just stepping aside so she would not run into him, he made a joke of seeing her reaction.

"No problem," he said with a grin. "Nothing happened!" Christina was still smiling embarrassed and she did not know what else to say. Then her eyes fell on the necklace of the set of several leather straps that were intertwined.

Particularly striking was the large, old key and the brown wooden beads, which summarized the bands in different places. Furthermore dangled various shells and something that looked like a fang of a predator on the not to be overlooked piece of jewelry.

Christina got a weird feeling, and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable in the presence of this man. She was sure she'd seen his necklace somewhere before, and she was pretty sure it had something to do with the event in the woods. An inner voice warned her - this man was very dangerous!

Christina got terribly scared and for a few seconds looked petrified at the man. Dwayne was amused by the fact that he knew exactly what was going on in Christina's mind - soon she would understand everything. He was not her enemy, she soon would know that, too. He was sorry that he had attacked her in the forest, she would eventually become his little sister in a short time.

"Are you okay, little lady?" He asked, but that was probably too much for Christina. She stared at him in horror for a second, then ran. Dwayne could hear her heart racing. He looked after her for a moment and then decided to leave.

Christina panicked around the next corner and leaned against the wall of the building to sort out her thoughts. She had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her.

With the leather bag in which the change was in her hand, she went back into the hall. On the way, she kept looking around, but the scary man was nowhere to be seen.

An hour later, Donald appeared in the hall, Christina gave him the cash and quit. She was very grateful that she did not have to walk to the public parking lot. As she started the engine, she decided to drive Zoe to the cafe, as it had been quite some time since she had seen her friend.

Christina did not want to be alone right now, so she waited for Zoe to go home, and Zoe had offered Christina to stay with her. On the short way there Christina came to a traffic light where she had to stop.

On the track next to her stood the four motorcyclists who she had seen on the staircase leading to the beach some time ago. 'They are exactly the people I needed to see right now,' Christina thought annoyed because even the dark-haired man with whom she had collided was one of the bikers.

The motorcyclist who stood next to her on the right-hander track had very light blonde hair. He looked into Christina's eyes for several seconds, smirking mysteriously. When the traffic lights finally turned green, which seemed like an eternity to Christina, he let go and drove off at a rapid pace, followed by his friends.

Christina looked thoughtfully at Zoe. "These guys really scary," she said.


	8. The guest

The guest

The following weekend Laddie finally arrived in Santa Carla. Christina was very happy to meet him again after all these years since her mother's funeral. She had spent the day before his arrival cleaning the entire apartment from top to bottom.

Christina had even cleaned the windows and washed off all the doors. These were works that she didn't like. But that was not all, Christina had actually persisted in washing the curtains and getting her bed fresh, although of course, it was clear that Laddie was unlikely to enter her bedroom.

It was a fact that Christina never forgot her mother's cleaning skills when she was expecting guests. Then the entire house had to shine, out of respect for the guests. That was what Star always told her daughter. Christina, however, had a completely different point of view, she felt that her mother had a big problem.

That's why Star was no match for Christina when it came to keeping her own home neat. In Christina's eyes, her mother just had a mania for cleaning that would drive almost anyone crazy.

There would have been no chance to enter the house wearing shoes when Star was around. Star had a bag of felt slippers hanging in all sorts of sizes for her guests at the wardrobe.

Nevertheless, Star hoovered up all the carpets every day and wiped all the floors. Just as the whole family was done in the morning in the bathroom, these two rooms were not safe from Star as well. After use, the bathrooms had to be hearty cleaned, of course, because of the bacteria.

Christina always enjoyed the whims of her mother. As Christina went through puberty, she sometimes used her mother's cleaning habits on her when she was angry with her mother. Christina then deliberately messed up and was pleased when Star was upset about it.

Especially funny was Stars behavior when the family had guests and all sat together while eating. No crumb who got lost on the floor wasn't noticed by the industrious housewife. At first, Star simply stood up from the table, picking up the crumbs and dumping it in the dumpster. At some point, she bought a dustbuster, and that was actually used while the guests were still busy with their meal. Of course, Michael was terribly embarrassed, but Christina thought the guest's response was just delicious. The young woman was a little sad when she thought back to that time, she really missed her crazy but very loving mother.

Christina hoped that she would not walk straight into her mother's footsteps as far as cleaning was concerned. No, she really did not need to worry, she would never behave like her mother. She just wanted to make a good impression on Laddie. He should see that she coped well, even if that was not quite true.

And then it was finally time, the doorbell rang. Christina was so excited, she had not seen Laddie for so many years and now she was hoping that he had not changed into an asshole.

As Laddie climbed up the stairs, Christina was so perplexed that she did not utter a single word and just stared at him. Besides his smile, the man standing in front of her had absolutely nothing in common with the Laddie Christina knew.

The last time she saw him, she had the impression that he did not care much about his appearance. At that time he was wearing his sandy hair in a flattop cut because he found it extremely practical.

He wore rather old-fashioned pants and sweatshirts that were way too big for him. His black jackets looked as if he had inherited them from his grandfather, as did his shoes. At that time Laddie was a very inconspicuous man.

But now, nothing from old Laddie was left. Laddie's dark-colored hair reached almost to the waistband of his dark ripped jeans. He was wearing a black motorcycle leather jacket and a black muscle shirt as well as black biker boots with silver buckles.

In one hand he held his motorcycle helmet and in the other a backpack. For some reason, Christina had to think of the four scary motorcyclists she'd met in the city from time to time. Laddie could easily be one of them, though Laddie was certainly several years older than these guys. He already had some wrinkles around his eyes.

Laddie glanced at the floor sheepishly when he saw Christina's reaction. Christina approached him and smiled. "Sorry," she said. "I'm just totally amazed, you've changed a bit, since the last time we met, you know. I have to say, you look really great!"

Laddie looked into her eyes with a smile. "Thank you, you also look very nice, you've grown up," he replied, putting his backpack and helmet aside and pulling her in a bear hug. "Did you already settle in? This town is different from the place you grew up in, right?"

Christina showed Laddie the apartment and where he could leave his things, then she made a pot of coffee and with that, the two sat down on the sofa. After Christina had told Laddie about Michael, and what he had done to her in recent years, Laddie was terrified.

"Yeah, and after that last incident, I decided I had to leave the city to live my own life. Of course, I'm sad because I had to leave Robin and Denise behind, I really miss the both of them, and besides I could not keep the promise that I gave to my mother, I told her that I would care for my siblings, Denise was still a baby when our mother died!"

Laddie looked thoughtfully into Christina's eyes. "Now listen to me, dear," he finally said, looking serious. "Your mother certainly did not want Michael to treat you so badly, she would not have wanted you to endure that long, she wanted you to live your own life, and you're happy, she loved you Absolutely nothing to blame, and leaving that boring mess and your old life behind was the best thing you could do! "

Then the two young people silently ate some of the biscuits Christina had put on the table with coffee and both of them were to be lost in thoughts. Christina knew that Laddie was right, but that did not change the bad conscience of her siblings. She was sure that she wouldn't get a chance to meet Robin and Denise that soon.

Michael hated Santa Carla for some reason, he would not let his kids go there of all places on vacation, and certainly not without his supervision.

"Do you remember Zoe Frog?" Christina finally broke the silence. "I spend my time with her when we are both off from work, and if you feel like it, we'll visit her later at work, and after that, we could go to the boardwalk."

It felt a bit strange when she made the suggestion, but if Laddie was with her, she probably did not need to be afraid out there in the dark. Laddie nodded dreamily. "That would be great, I have not been there since I was eight," he explained with a smile. "You know, I love this city, but since neither your parents, I mean your mother and your biological father, nor the rest of the boys are there, there's nothing here for me!" Laddie laughed bitter. "Well, now you are here, so of course I'll love to visit Santa Carla!"

"That was a crazy story that your mother and I experienced back then, but for me, it was the best time in my childhood," he explained. Christina looked at him sympathetically.

"What happened back then, and what happened to my dad and his friends?" She asked uncertainly.

Laddie swallowed with tears in his eyes. "I was only eight years old then, I was traumatized and was dragged from one psychologist to another by my foster parents, who were really nice and worried about me. These guys tried to talk me into everything But I know what I know, at least today, when I was a kid I not so sure, but one thing I can tell you, as unbelievable as it sounds ... "

Laddie was silent for a moment and looked out of the window with a sad expression, then he looked directly into Christina's eyes. "What I'm telling you now will not make you very happy, but it's the truth and I think you have a right to know it!" Christina looked at Laddie intently. "Okay, tell me," she finally replied.

Laddie took a deep breath. "Okay," he commented. "One day I went to sleep as usual, of course in my bed, that your parents and the other boys had prepared for me after they had taken me in. I had run away from home and they found me, but when I woke up I was in a place I didn't know. I found out later that I was in the house of Michael's grandfather, your mother was with me, otherwise, I would have been in a panic. Except for Michael, your mother and me, there was Sam, as well as Edgar and Alan Frog. Later that night a fight started, but I did not hear much of it, except for the terrible noise everyone was making and screams of agony. At least I have no memory of the fight itself, I was in another room, but I was terrified of Edgar and Alan. And even when I met them two years later, I thought they are weird and I never trusted them! Well, as I said, there was a fight, at first, I could not even say exactly who was fighting. In my mind, there is another vague picture. One of the boys, Paul, protected your mother and me from Edgar. I do not remember why. Paul, however, looked different than usual. At the time I thought he had disguised himself as a vampire, and I could not understand why Paul, whom I loved very much, had come to this house disguised. At some point, the fight was over and it went quiet again. In the months before this event, I did not feel well. Almost every night I had bad abdominal pain and my jaw felt like I was getting new teeth. I often had a fever, it was like I was burning inside. Suddenly it was over, I was fine again. I ran out of the room, I wanted to join your mother, who was downstairs. So I ran down the stairs and noticed that the house looked pretty ruined in the fight. "

Christina now had to fight back tears as she imagined the situation Laddie had been in then. "That sounds very, very bad," she said. "You must have felt horrible!"

Laddie nodded. "Yes, but the worst is yet to come, and that, you need to know as well," Laddie hinted, sighing. "I finally found your mother in the room where Michael's grandpa stuffed animals. Michael had also been there. I'll never forget what I've seen in that disgusting room! It doesn't matter to me what everyone's trying to convince me! Your dad was on one of the work desks in there, and under him lay the antlers of a rather large animal. Your father was impaled on this antlers, the horns had staked his chest. I do not know what happened to the other boys, but I never saw them again!"

Laddie swallowed while Christina had tears running down her cheeks. "Laddie," Christina finally said, taking his hand. "Are you really sure that all of this really happened?"

Laddie looked at her completely blankly. "Yeah, I'm sure, and do you know what the worst of this story is?" He asked. "It just did not interest anyone, my family, the best family I've ever had, was torn from me, and nobody cared about it! Michael, Sam, and the Frogs just went on with their lives and were never judged, and I was put into a foster home, and that's it."

Christina looked shocked at Laddie. "I can hardly believe what you're telling, it's just incredible!" Laddie returned her gaze as he wiped away his tears. Then he smiled bitterly. "I know, but it's true, I was reluctant to visit your family when I grew up, I always thought you were Michael's daughter, but your mother kept inviting me, and finally I gave in. At that time, I was seventeen, and you were a little girl, you opened the door for me, remember?", Laddie asked.

Christina nodded, and now both had to grin when they thought back to it. "Mommy, come quickly," I called back then, Christina laughed. "Mommy, there is an odd man at the door!"

"Yes, yes," smirked Laddie. "I saw you with your funny braids in standing right in front of me, your hair was very pale blond, almost white. I soon realized whose child you really are, and I was speechless! You look so much like your dad!"

Laddie and Christina looked at each other and snorted. A few minutes later, they locked eyes with a serious expression. "You know, the day my mother died, she told me something weird," Christina finally explained. "I do not dare to repeat it, and it's certainly total nonsense, she said back then that my father was a vampire, and that it was her fault he was killed, was my father a vampire?"

Laddie looked at her doubtful. "I do not know," he answered. "I do not really believe in such things. But they really had odd habits. They slept all day, and at least so did your mother and I. They never wanted me to be with them when they went anywhere to get "their" food. Later they picked up your mother and me and we went to the boardwalk, so your mother and I got something to eat. And always the boys got themselves some dinner as well. I never came to know why."

Christina nodded. "Well, as you know my mum had a brain tumor, and that's what killed her, her mind played pranks on her. But I must confess, I could never forget about the story she told me back then. It sounded so convincing. That's why I dared to ask Michael about my father on the day my mother was buried. Michael got angry and beat me for the first time, remember? "

Laddie nodded. "Well, you were the only one who intervened that day," said Christina. "Everyone else just didn't say a word, nobody cared. I was a bastard to them, unwanted by my stepfather. Michael kicked you out and told you not to come back to his house ever again, did he?"

Laddie nodded again. "You know," Christina explained, "I've often thought of what my mother told me about my father, even though I do not really believe it. That's why I let the" Immortals "persuade me to do a video. This song was about a woman who loved a vampire she could never forget. When Michael found out about this video, he threw me out and did not care what I was going to do."

Laddie looked at her sadly. "Well," he finally said. "Star thought Michael was the better choice, but she was wrong, the result was that the Lost Boys, that's what the gang called themselves, probably paid with their lives. I'd love to meet with Dwayne again, but I have to accept that this is no longer possible."

Now Christina had to fight back tears. "Is this Dwayne my dad," she asked. Laddie shook his head, smiling. "No, not Dwayne, your father's name was David, a very charismatic guy. Sometimes when he looked at me with his piercing eyes, I really got scared, I always felt like he was reading like me an open book. He was able to make threats in a very calm, soft voice. But he never did anything bad to me or your mom, we were family. We got almost everything we wanted. "David did not even freak out when I took a swing to this mysterious bottle."

"Huh, what bottle," Christina asked, interested. "I still do not know what was in it, but once, when I was alone in the cave with your mother, ..." Laddie tried to explain.

"What cave," Christina interrupted him completely confused. "Hudson's bluff," Laddie replied. "It's up there on the cliffs, we lived there then, a totally cool place."

Christina looked at him incredulously. "Why did you live in a cave? I've been up to the cliffside sometime ago. I located a very interesting place up there. there was a weird old wooden staircase and there are warning signs saying that you can not enter the stairs? But of course I was curious, so I went down and found a cave. This place looked like a house in a cave."

Now Laddie was irritated and nodded dumbfounded. "You have been there?", he asked. "Yes, but I didn't stay there for a long time, I felt like the place was inhabited and I was a bit scared, so I left there again."

"Well," said Laddie. "Maybe some kids are staying there." "Hm, possible," replied Christina. "And what about that weird bottle," she asked.

Laddie grinned. "As I said, I do not know what was in the bottle, but Dwayne always warned me that I can not drink it at all, but that night I was terribly thirsty, your mother slept on one of the sofas and the boys weren't there. I found nothing else to drink, just that bottle, so I drank, then I felt weird. I had to throw up, my stomach hurt terribly, and I woke your mother. I told her what happened and she later told the boys when they came back. Dwayne and Paul took care of me, Marko raced to get us something to drink, and your dad took me on his lap, asking me how I felt. Then he finally told Star, that I had to get along with it now, there was nothing he could do."

"Funny story," Christina said and Laddie just nodded. "I felt really sick for several months, but as I mentioned earlier, it was suddenly gone during the terrible night."

Laddie smiled and said, "Come, let's go to the boardwalk! Whatever happened back then, I finally wanna see this place again"

Christina nodded. "We could go there with my bike," Laddie suggested. "Yes, that would be cool," Christina answered with a grin.

"Have you had the bike for a long time? I mean, if you visited us earlier, you were always there by car," Christina requested. "Yeah, I have not had a car for several years," Laddie explained. "I often think about Dwayne, who was like a dad to me, and I remembered how happy I was on the back of his bike, so I bought myself one some years ago, do you really feel like riding a motorcycle? "

"Yes, of course," answered Christina. "I even have the matching jacket, it hung in my mother's wardrobe, it was hers." Then she laughed out loud. "My mother and a leather jacket are two components that absolutely do not fit together."

Laddie nodded, grinning. "Are there purple stars embroidered on the back," he asked. Christina nodded.

Your mother was always cold while riding with your dad, but his jacket was way too big for her, so he donated her an own one, the stars were by embroidered Marco, he was very skillful with things like this. He always wore a jeans jacket. He sewed so many patches on it that you could not even see the denim anymore, totally cool."

Christina smiled and something gnawed at her memory when Laddie mentioned that man's denim jacket, but she did not remember what it was. "I love this leather jacket and wear it all the time, Michael found it and another leather jacket in my mother's closet when she died, he wanted to burn both of them, but I saved them from the fire and hid both of them."

"What jacket are you talking about," Laddie asked with interest. "Wait, I'll show you!" With these words, the young woman disappeared in the bedroom and came back a few moments later. She was holding a brown, well-worn leather jacket in her arms. On the left sleeve of the jacket was stitched a large leopard, which extended over the entire sleeve.

Laddie carefully took the jacket from her arm and looked at it thoughtfully for a while. "That belonged to Dwayne," he finally said sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I did not mean ...," Christina stopped in mid-sentence. "Hey, Laddie, I got an idea, why don't you just keep the jacket?", she asked. Laddie looked at her in disbelief. "Are you sure," he then inquired.

"Yes, go ahead, I'm sure Dwayne would be happy if you would wear it," Christina replied. "And now let's go, I have not been on a motorcycle for ages." At the boardwalk, Laddie parked his bike at the same spot the Lost Boys used to park theirs. Then they visited Zoe, who was happy to see Laddie again.

Christina and her companion then moved on and each got a portion of fries. The two did not notice that they were being watched. Paul and Marko were also on the boardwalk, and Paul saw Christina climb from Laddie's motorcycle.

"Who's that guy," he asked Marko, who just shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe he is her boyfriend or something," he replied, then Paul and Marko got closer to the two of them and listened to their conversation. Of course, they noticed that the strange man wore Dwayne's old jacket.

"The guy has Dwayne's old jacket," mocked Marko, "let Dwayne see that, then the guy's done." Paul just nodded, laughing, "and I'll grab the lady," he finally said. Marko looked annoyed at his friend and then shook his head. "No, you can't do this, remember, she's out of limits!"

The young woman got up from the bench and said, "Hey Laddie, let's go get a drink, what do you want?" Laddie smiled "I'm the driver, so Coke for me, please!" Christina nodded "Okay, I'll be right back," she said Paul and Marko looked at each other perplexed, "Laddie, this is Laddie, unbelievable! He grew up," Marko said finally," Well, they'll all come back someday, "he added with a grin."

"Hey, keep cool," Paul answered," he was a little boy back then. He loved Dwayne. Come on, let's see where the others are and tell them that the boy is also town too."

Marko nodded and they both left. After the meal, Christina and Laddie strolled to the beach and sat down on one of the benches. With Laddie Christina felt safe and since a long time, it was the first night she had no problem being out in the dark, the two of them sat in silence for a while. "Laddie," Christina said after a while. "What sort of man had my dad been? "

Laddie shrugged. "The boys were pretty wild and unconventional, and they were always out in the dark, David, well, he was just okay, but a rough fellow who knew exactly what he wanted. But he had some tenderness when it came to your mother. Like I told you before, you look pretty much like him, you have the same shade of blue eyes. Your smile is also like his."

Christina smiled. The two of them talked for a while, and while they were sitting on the bench, David and Dwayne had joined Paul and Marko on the boardwalk. Marko had asked them to get there through their mental bond and the four men stood beside Laddie's Harley.

"Is a nice bike," said Dwayne, smiling. "And where is my boy now?" Paul and Marko shrugged. "They went to the beach, I think," Marko finally said. "I don't know if they are still at the beach!"

"Okay," Dwayne answered, "let's go check," he added. David shook his head. "No," he said. "I have a better idea, I know for sure that my little girl is on duty in the pool hall tomorrow night, we'll wait until she's gone, and Dwayne and I will pay Laddie a visit."

Marko nodded. "And what about us," Paul asked. "He was my boy too!" Then a grin spread across Paul's face. "However, one can see exactly from his appearance who is his role model."

With that, Paul put his hand on Dwayne's shoulder. "Okay, boys, we got a plan now," David finally said with a chuckle. "It will not be long before my little girl will join us, and it looks like we're getting Laddie back!"


	9. Guests

Christina was used to be off from both of her jobs during the weekend. The Boardwalk kids also worked on Saturdays and Sundays, but Christina only worked from Monday to Friday. She was happy that it was this way because working with the kids left her wasted most time.

In the billiards hall, there were some employees that only worked Saturdays and Sundays, most of them were students. Maria was there too, but now Maria had Christina asked to take over her duties on Saturday, as Maria had received concert tickets from her son, and of course, Maria wanted to go to see a gig of her favorite band.

Christina didn't like the idea at first because she had planned to go to dinner with Laddie, but Maria had assured her that she had to work at most two hours, then Donald would be in the hall, and also her guest would also have the opportunity to come to the hall and pick Christina up. At least Christina did this favor to Maria.

Christina had just left when the doorbell rang. Laddie thought she might have forgotten something and opened the door. Someone blew the smoke of a cigarette into Laddie's face and the young man was completely puzzled.

"Hello boy," a long not heard voice said. "You look very good, would you mind to let some old friends come in?" Laddie looked at David in disbelief. He had seen this man lying dead on a worktable in this creepy room so many years ago. Laddie had to touch him to be sure that he was really there. For a good two minutes, he looked blankly from Dwayne to David.

Laddie blanched, fearing that his eyes would play a stupid trick on him. Then, realizing that Dwayne and David were indeed standing in front of him, a bright grin spread across his face.

"David, Dwayne, you're really there, I, I ... how is that possible, I can not believe it, you're not dead?" He asked, amazed with tears of joy in his eyes. Laddie beamed at David and Dwayne. "In my whole life, I've never been so happy to see anyone again, you've come to me, how do you know where I am?" he asked astonished.

Laddie could no longer afford to stop asking questions. Dwayne and David grinned, too now, and Dwayne took Laddie in his arms. "I missed you," Dwayne said. Laddie was literally clinging to him, afraid that Dwayne might suddenly disappear again.

David watched the two with amusement and relief. He had not been sure before the visit if Laddie would be happy to meet them. After a few minutes, Dwayne broke loose from Laddie's embrace.

"Come," Laddie finally yelled. "Come in!" The two vampires looked at each other in amusement, 'I told you, he was always loyal to us,' Dwayne told David telepathically. For the first time, they entered the apartment for the first time and went into the living room, where they sat down on the couch. Laddie stood in the doorway and still looked at the two completely confused. Dwayne grinned, watching the young man closely. Now he understood what Paul meant when he talked about "Laddie's great role model". Laddie reminded him in the dress style and with the dark hair on himself.

He got up and took Laddie in his arms again. "How have you been?" Dwayne asked after a few seconds. Laddie still didn't understand what was going on and cried like a little boy. "I thought you were dead, and I would never see you again, I missed you," was all that Dwayne and David understood.

"Hey, calm down," David said laughing. "Do we look dead to you?" He asked. After the young man had calmed down, he looked at the two. "How did you do that," he asked. "We were lucky back then," was all David answered. "I'm sure you'll have something nice to drink to celebrate our reunion," he said with a smirk.

"I think we still have some of Christina's favorite wine here," Laddie replied, giving David a thoughtful look before going to the kitchen to get the wine and three glasses. David possibly didn't know about Christina, at least that's what Laddie thought, but he quickly learned better.

David followed him. "Speaking of her, you know, Christina, my child," he said, looking at Laddie gravely. "Are you my little girl's lover," he asked. Laddie looked at him blankly and shook his head.

"Okay," David said and took the bottle from Laddie's hand. "It's not a cheap swap, is it?" He asked with a grin and took the bottle into the living room when Laddie nodded. Laddie followed him into the living room and filled the wine in the glasses then he handed one to each of his guests.

"I would never touch Christina that way, she's like a little sister to me, and she really has been through enough shit since Star died." Dwayne looked at him thoughtfully for a long time.

"Be aware boy," Dwayne finally explained. "She's one of us since she was born, even if she doesn't know it. Of course, we did not know about her, we even did not know we are able to father children. She needs to come home to us very soon because a few weeks ago, I have almost killed her when she suddenly stood right in front of me in the woods during the night. Do not ask me what she was looking for there that late, but if Paul had not been around ... "

Laddie looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about, Christina didn't tell me a word about anything like this," he explained hesitantly. "She could not tell you anything because Paul made sure she did not remember," David explained.

Laddie shrugged. "Well," said David after a few seconds with a very serious expression. "That's why we waited until she left because even though she does not remember about it, she's still scared of Dwayne, instinct, I guess," he explained.

"Are you really vampires, is that really the truth?", Laddie asked uncertainly after a while. David smirked. "Boy, you know exactly what we are, so why don't you just believe it?"

"How did all of you manage to come back?", Laddie requested. David starred at him with his trademark smile for a while. "Well, it turned out that the Frog cowards didn't have enough knowledge about how to kill vampires I guess," David explained. "They didn't burn our remains. We are really grateful for their little mistake. We were simply buried behind the house, that did the trick. You know, Laddie, from time to time even a vampire needs a nice long rest to regain his power!"

Laddie looked thoughtfully to the ground and for a few minutes. He noticed the vampires had changed a little bit, but that was something he should expect after so many years.

David's mullet was gone, the hair on top of his head was as long as the rest. He had used styling gel to keep his hair out of his face. He didn't wear the black trenchcoat anymore. He preferred to wear his leather jacket over a black button-up shirt. He still had his boots, but without the spurs. David was wearing new-looking leather pants. Dwayne had cut down his hair a little bit, and he wore a shirt, otherwise, he was the same man Laddie liked so much.

The three men silently enjoyed their wine. Dwayne looked at Laddie attentive. "What are you doing, how are you doing," he asked after a while to break the silence.

Laddie smiled. "I keep afloat with tattoos, I have a small study room in my apartment in Modesto, and it works fine, but after coming in contact with Christina again and seeing Santa Carla again, I really want to come back here there's nothing that keeps me in Modesto, my foster parents died a few years ago, and now that I know you're still here, one more reason for me."

Dwayne nodded, "that sounds good," he said finally. "Ah Dwayne, I have something for you," Laddie explained after a few seconds. Dwayne glanced at Laddie, who had jumped off the couch and gone into the hallway, where Dwayne's old jacket was hanging at the wardrobe. With the jacket Laddie finally came back.

He spread it and handed it to the astonished grinning vampire. "Michael had put it into a fire, but Christina saved it, and gave it to me on my first night here. I'm sure you would like to get it back," he explained with a smile. Dwayne got up and handed the jacket back to Laddie. "It is yours now, come on put it on," he said curtly. "Are you sure," Laddie asked. Dwayne just nodded.

"Cool, thanks, tell me, where are Paul and Marko?" Laddie asked. "Oh, they're on the boardwalk," David answered. "They would have liked to come with us, especially Paul, but we did not want to shock you too much," he added with a grin.

"What did you tell Christina about us?" David asked. Laddie shrugged. "Well, I could not tell her much, because my memories of our time together are so blurry at the time, I remembered your faces and Hudson's bluff, and I know that Dwayne looked after me like a father and that Paul, too, was always there for me, but everything else ... Like the story with that ominous bottle, or your parties, all gone, I do not remember anything about that."

David nodded, smiling. "And you told her that?" Laddie nodded. "Of course, she wanted to know everything about her father, Star did not even give her your name, but Christina wants to know where she's from, well, she'll be happy when she hears you're alive, she'll be curious and want to meet you."

"Hm," David replied then. "Please do not say anything to her at the moment, I do not know how to take her in at the moment. I can not go to her and tell her, that I'm her daddy! She wouldn't believe me. And I'm sure when she finds out that "your" Dwayne is the one she's scared of, she may not be to be so happy anymore!"

Laddie nodded a little shocked because he had just realized what Dwayne had almost done. "It should not be so hard to keep a secret for now. But still, I do not like lying to her."

The two vampires nodded, smiling, and Dwayne put his hand on Laddie's shoulder. "We also don't like it, but it's for her own protection," he replied. "We just want to prevent her from reacting like her mother when she learns the truth, she must know that she is safe with us first!"

Laddie looked at him thoughtfully. "Seriously, I'm really glad to know you are still alive, we did not want you to get hurt or die," he explained. "We," asked David.

Laddie nodded. "Yeah, we, that's Star and me, man, she loved you to the end, and she realized very quickly that she had made a big mistake when she preferred Michael. If she would have known that you were alive she would have come back with Christina."

David looked at him incredulously. "Understand this woman had always been hard for me," he finally said. "How did she die?" He asked.

"Star had a brain tumor," Laddie explained. "Unfortunately, there was nothing to do. Christina virtually raised her younger siblings after Star passed away." Then Laddie told the two vampires, all about Michael's attacks on Christina, and why the whole situation finally escalated.

"Michael is a coward," David said. "Why did not she leave there," he asked. "I think she felt responsible for her siblings, but I'm not sure. We've had no contact since the Stars funeral," Laddie explained. The three men emptied two more bottles of the wine, then Dwayne and David said goodbye just before Christina came home.

When Christina was done in the pool hall, she was a little sad, because she had firmly expected that Laddie would keep her company. Again and again, she had looked out the door in the hope of finally discovering him. But he just did not show up.

When she later arrived at the level of the riding stable, she saw two motorcycles driving away from the house where she lived. She was very surprised because Laddie had not told her about expecting guests. Christina would have loved to meet his friends. He had never actually talked about any friends during their time together. She was a little disappointed, frankly! When she entered her apartment, Laddie lay sleeping on the couch, looking so happy that Christina immediately forgot her disappointment. On the table were still the three wine glasses as the three empty bottles.

Christina grinned, 'Well, we'll have to buy new wine tomorrow. Jesus, the two of them were still driving after so much wine,' she wondered. She noticed again how happy Laddie looked asleep. She took the blanket off the sofa and covered him with it, then got herself ready for bed and went to sleep.

When David and Dwayne got back home, Marko and Paul were already curiously waiting in the sleeping quarters of the vampires. They lounged on a sofa and played a PlayStation game together.

"Well, how has it gone," Marko asked before David and Dwayne could take off their jackets. David shook his shoulder-length platinum blonde hair out of his face and sat down.

"Laddie wants to come back here, thinking about cutting his ties in Modesto where he lives now," Dwayne explained. "Well, and I'm almost sure he wants to come back to us too, he was very happy to meet us, he was asking for you," added David.

"Wow, it would be great if Laddie were one of us again," Paul replied smiling and Marko nodded. "And what about the little one?" Paul asked. "Well," said David. "He says she'd be happy to hear that we're alive, and she'd like to meet her daddy, but after the story with Dwayne in the woods it's not going to be that easy."

For a while nobody said anything. "We should ask Laddie to help a little," Marko finally suggested. "The two have been friends for a long time, and she trusts him, besides, Paul is not talking about anything else since he knows she is in town, I do not know how much longer I can stand it," he added with a laugh.

"Ha, what, I really like the kid, I can not think of anything else at the moment," Paul replied laughing. "Well, I would love to make her mine," he added with a grin. David shook his head. "Maybe she does not accept your nice offer, ever thought about it?" He asked with a grin. "We will see," replied Paul.

When Christina came into the living room the next morning, Laddie was already dressed and sat with a cup of coffee at the dining table. He did not look quite so happy anymore. "Good morning," said Christina loudly. "Oh, please," Laddie answered. "Not so loud, my poor head seems to explode."

The young man was not used to so much alcohol because he went everywhere with his motorcycle. "You must have had a merry evening," Christina stated in amusement as she took the cup from Laddie's hand and drowned it.

"Want some more coffee," she asked and went to the kitchen when Laddie nodded. "Who were the two guys I saw leaving the house yesterday when I got home," she inquired curiously. "Oh, some old friends I have not seen in ages," he replied with a smile. "They may have heard that I'm in town and were just around the corner after you left yesterday, and I was really happy about them coming here," he added.

Christina looked thoughtfully at Laddie. "I would have liked to meet your friends," she said. He looked guiltily to the floor, thinking of Dwayne's explanation and David's request not to say anything. "You'll get to know them, I promise, I just do not know when," he answered. "I want to tell you something else, I'll drive back to Modesto tomorrow!"

"What, why so suddenly," Christina whined sadly. Laddie raised both hands and smiled. "I have to fix some things at home because I decided to break up my tents in Modesto and move back to Santa Carla. I want to live here, I'm home here," he explained.

Christina looked at him incredulously. "That's great news, I'm really happy," she said. "Can I help you with anything?" "Well," replied Laddie. "If I'm allowed to use your laptop, I could ever cancel my apartment by email, I just have to pick up my personal belongings in Modesto, I do not have my own furniture, what I own fits in my car, and I'll borrow a trailer to get my bike here."

Christina looked at Laddie happily. "Listen, Laddie, until you find a place to stay, you're welcome to live here, that's great news, I can not believe it!" After showering and having breakfast for both, Christina looked at him uncertainly. "You could do me a favor too," she finally said. "Please don't laugh at me. I know my idea is completely crazy."

Laddie looked at her irritated. "What's up, just tell me. I promise not to laugh," he said, grinning. "Well, okay," Christina explained. "I've had nightmares for a long time because of Michael's abuses, and since I'm in Santa Carla there's always someone in my dreams who helps me, I really don't know how to explain any better. Well, I've seen some tattoos you have done and I like your work. Therefore I decided that I would like to have a tattoo of the guy that always saves me in the dream!"

Laddie looked at her with a grin. "Are you sure you'll have to get along with it for the rest of your life?", he finally asked. "I know," answered the young woman. "I told you, it's crazy, but you know, when he shows up, everything's fine again, and I'm not scared anymore, although I should be afraid of him! But he's like my protector. Oh please, Laddie, don't look at me like this, I know that sounds insane! "

"Why should you be afraid of this savior, what is wrong with him," Laddie asked curiously. "You'll see that when we finish the tattoo cover together," Christina explained.

"Okay," Laddie replied thoughtfully. "If you want, we can draw him right away," he added. Christina nodded, smiling. "I want him on my upper arm," she pointed out. "I hope he does not get too small, I do not want the details to get lost."

Laddie nodded and sat down with his pad on the table, smiling. After a good hour, they were finished and Christina looked at the template with satisfaction.

"Yeah, that's exactely what he looks like," she explained. Laddie looked silently at the drawing for a while. He knew the face he had painted, in fact, he knew his human face.

"This is a vampire," he justified incredulously. Christina nodded. "Okay," Laddie finally said. "When I get back, you'll get your tattoo." Secretly he hoped that she would change her mind.

The next day Laddie waited until Christina returned from her work at the Boardwalkkids, it was already dark when he left. "Hey, drive carefully and give me a call when you get home," Christina said goodbye. "Yeah, do not worry, I'm always careful, I'll call you and I'll be back soon." The two embraced each other, then he rode of. Christina watched him until he disappeared, then she went back into the house.

Author note: It had been a bit hard to write this chapter, I hope you still like it.


	10. Party time

Laddie was just getting closer to the highway when four motorcycles passed by on the opposite lane. Laddie recognized the drivers and grinned. He left the lane and stopped. Laddie turned off the engine of his bike, then dismounted and pulled off his helmet.

Somewhat disappointed, he looked in the direction in which the four bikes had gone. He could not hear the engines anymore, obviously, they had moved farther away from him. He was about to reach out for his helmet when he heard the motorcycles coming back.

Laddie turned around again, and then the first bike came back into his view, Dwayne was sitting on the bike, followed by David, Paul, and Marko. When the four approached Laddie, they turned their motorcycles and stopped behind Laddie's bike. He put his helmet back on the seat of his motorcycle and closed the distance.

David stepped off first and greeted Laddie. "Hello Laddie, nice to see you, where are you going?", he asked with a smile. Even before Laddie could answer, Paul had got off his bike and hugged the young man. "Man Laddie, you grew up," he said with a laugh, releasing Laddie. "And you look good, you really look like one of us!"

Marko had also dismounted and put his arm around Laddie's shoulder. "Paul is right, you really look like you're one of us." Marko grinned. "Well, actually you are one of us, it's nice to see you!"

Laddie told the vampires that he had planned to move back to Santa Carla. He had no family he would have to leave in Modesto, and he was self-employed with the tattoos he did.

"Hey, you're coming home," Paul said pleased. "That's cool!" David looked thoughtfully at Laddie for a while. "Is there a place where we could spend the day," he finally asked.

Laddie thought for a moment and then nodded. "Am I right, you wanna come with me, and help me getting my belongings to Santa Carla?", he inquired pleased.

David nodded, smiling. "Yeah, if you do not mind," he finally answered. "We got nothing better to do tonight. "Hey, cool," Laddie said. " I'd be pleased." "Well then, let's go, boys," David announced.

Marko got off his bike and stood between David and Laddie. "Wait a moment," he said, "wouldn't it be smarter if I would hop onto the back of David's ride for the trip, I could drive your car here and we would not need the trailer, then we'll be faster. What do you think?"

David looked at him thoughtfully. "That's a very good idea," he finally replied. Then Marko hid his motorcycle on a dirt road and got onto David's bike. After two hours, the five arrived at Laddie's home and went into the apartment.

Laddie only had the most necessary things in his apartment, but it had always been okay for him. He never needed that much. He went to the kitchen and fetched a key from one of the drawers.

"Hey guys, come along, there is one more room in the basement. It was supposed to be a place for parties, but I never had use for it, but you could stay there now because it has no windows! You guys will be safe, but I do not know it may be that we need to clean the room."

The four men grinned and followed Laddie downstairs. "Jesus," called Laddie, laughing. " it's completely dusty in there, it's like I imagined, I'll show you where the delicious drinks are, and then I'll clean things up here, will not take long."

The four vampires looked at each other with a smile. "Laddie," David finally said. "A little bit of dust really does not bother us, because after all, it's not like we could develop an allergy to it, but if you insist, we'll clean it together, and then the party will take place down here! Do not come up with the idea that this could become a habit! Otherwise, you can clean up your crap yourself, just that it's clear!"

Laddie nodded. "Yes of course! I'm a bit embarrassed if I'm honest. You're my guests I don't want you to do this!" David grinned and put his hand on Laddie's shoulder. "Do not worry, I didn't talk about you, but if you're condemned to living with them, you have to be careful that there will be no chaos everywhere around you!"

"Hey, calm down, bossman, I can start with Dwayne cleaning the room while you three go for some drinks and get them down," Paul suggested with a laugh, of course, he knew exactly who David was talking about! Paul sometimes was the chaos in person! "That sounds good," Laddie replied, following David and Marko into the apartment.

"Hey David," he called upstairs, "I'll throw some more pizzas in the oven, and I'll have a nibble, too. David and Marko looked at each other laughing. "I've already found everything we need," David let Laddie know while he looked at a bottle of good Scottish whiskey and nodded his approval.

Laddie was busy with his stove first then entered the living room as well. He took off his jacket and threw it on a chair. "Laddie, you've lost something," Marko said, picking up the tattoo cover that had fallen out of Laddie's jacket pocket.

Marko looked at the picture in surprise and handed it to David, who looked just as surprised. "What's that, is that supposed to be a tattoo artwork?" David asked, astonished.

Laddie nodded. "Why did you do this?" David questioned. Laddie told the two vampires that Christina had to deal with bad dreams almost every night. But since she lived in Santa Carla her dreams had changed a little, and Paul always popped up to be her protector in his vampire form. Christina wants a tattoo of her guardian very bad. I really tried to talk her out of it, but she didn't listen to me. Christina is quite stubborn. I really hope she'll forget about that until I'll see her next time, but still I just can not refuse her."

Marko shook his head, grinning, and desperately bit back the laughter. "The kid has nightmares, and Paul is her guardian, that is unbelievable" David finally smiled. "I do not know if I like that, well, we'll see!"

"Whatever, please do not tell Paul, otherwise it will be even more unbearable," Marko insisted. "He's just talking about Christina for weeks, although she is completely different from any other woman Paul ever dated. She is cute, of course, don't get me wrong. I just don't understand what Paul is up to these days," he explained to the perplexed Laddie.

After a while, the room was reasonably clean and the five men made themselves comfortable on the sofas. "I think it's great that you're here," said Laddie, slightly drunk, about his second whiskey.

"We're also glad to have you back," Dwayne replied smiling. "Laddie, there is a little problem at the moment. We were just heading to get a bite when we met you before. We didn't feed properly for two days!"

Laddie stared at Dwayne shocked. "And what now?", he asked a bit scared. "You guys are not going to feed on me!?" The vampires started laughing. "No, don't be scared," Marko answered. "You are family and we like you. But isn't there anybody around you could invite to our little party?"

Laddie looked at him in horror. "You want me to invite people and feed off them in here, in front of me? You know, I love you guys, but I don't want to see any of this yet!"

Dwayne shook his head grinning. "Laddie, we would feed outside, nobody would ever know! Maybe you know some people you don't like that much, just think about it!"

Laddie still looked terrified, but somehow this imagination sounded appealing to him. He had an idea. "Listen, there are to guys, Marty and Dan, they are in a biker club, and they came to me to get a tattoo each. But afterward, they refused to pay me for my job. They hadn't come here alone, so there was nothing I could do. Of course, I'm still mad about them. But I'm sure, when they know, they may get some drinks for free, they would come back! These guys really are a pain in everybody's ass!"

The vampires looked at him grinning. "Dou you have a phone number of these pricks?", David asked. Laddie nodded. "I'll go upstairs to get my smartphone. A while later Marty and Dan arrived. Laddie took them downstairs and introduced them to his friends.

David and Dwayne had Marty un their middle, while Dan was sandwiched between Paul and Marko. "So, you are really close friends to Laddie?", David questioned them. Marty grinned. "Yes, Laddie is our tattoo artist," Marty explained. David nodded. "And I'm sure Laddie did a great job? He told us about your tattoos," David explained starring at Marty with a serious expression.

Marty and Dan started feeling a bit uncomfortable. They didn't like the expressions of Laddie's friends. Paul was just grinning at them, but he didn't look very friendly, while Marko hid his grin behind his hand, also starring at the two men. Dwayne didn't say a word just looked at them stoically.

"I have something good to smoke in celebration of the day," David said after a while, pulling a joint out of his pocket. "Marty, Dan, what do you think? We could go outside and share it. I would love to get to know you a bit better!"

Marty and Dan looked at each other. They felt a bit better now, maybe this guy wasn't bad after all. They followed David out of the house although they didn't understand why they just didn't smoke the nice joint inside.

"Hey, wait," Paul called after them. "Did you really think you could have this nice smoke without us?", he shouted. Of course, Marko and Dwayne followed Paul upstairs. Laddie stayed back. He needed something good to drink now. He knew, he had lead Marty and Dan into their death, he felt ashamed, because Laddie didn't pity them the slightest. He downed two glasses of whiskey, then he felt a bit better.

A while later the vampires were back. Laddie saw the bloodstains that decorated their shirts now. He felt bad, but what should he do, it wouldn't take long and Laddie would be like them. He knew he needed to get used to it. Of course, he knew that vampires needed to feed properly, otherwise they would lose their strength. But still, this was the part of being a vampire, Laddie didn't like.

David sat down beside him and placed an arm around Laddie's shoulder. "Don't worry, nobody will ever find a trace of these guys," he said grinning. He lighted another joint and handed it to Laddie. The party went on as if nothing had happened.

All five fell asleep on the sofas just before dawn, Laddie, because he was totally exhausted, drunk and high, and the vampires because a new day was coming.

It was already noon when Laddie woke up. He felt pretty bad after last night. His head hurt and he felt dizzy. He got up anyway and left the room. He had two keys, one he left on the table with a message for the vampires. With the other key, he locked the door before he went to his apartment. Laddie did not want to risk one of the neighbors entering the room and spotting his sleeping friends.

When Laddie was in his apartment, he started the coffee machine and then went to take a shower. After that, he felt a little better. With the coffee, he sank down on the couch and made his attachment. While a CD of Slayer was running, he started to pack his belongings. He filled up three large boxes, his clothes would fit into a medium-sized suitcase, and he'd decided to part with some of the books, the rest he'd put in a sturdy plastic box. The most important for him was his tattooing utensils as well as the real Persian rug from the house of his foster parents.

Before he started packing his few possessions in the old pickup in the late afternoon, he drove the sorted things to the recycling yard. Then he pulled the tarp from the basement to cover the pickup when everything was loaded.

The sorted books were placed on the living room table. Laddie knew that David and Dwayne appreciated a good book, the two should first see if they could use one or the other. He would dispose of the rest.

It was almost dark when he was done with everything. Just as he started to cover the pickup, David put his head out the front door. "Hey, boy," he said. "You're already busy, how did you survive the previous night," he continued with a cheeky grin on his face.

Laddie looked at him for a while and then grinned as well. "Oh, christ, just don't remind me of it. I had a bad hangover when I woke up, it felt like my head was going to explode. I haven't dealt with something like this for ages," he finally answered. "But now I'm feeling much better. And what about you? Did you have a nice slumber? Where are the others?"

David pointed with his thumb to the cellar. "They are late risers," he said. Laddie just nodded. "I'm almost done," he replied after a while. "I have some books I do not want to take with me," Laddie explained. "They're in the living room on the table, if any of you are interested, just take what you want. I remember that you have been curious about the two world wars, there is some interesting literature about them."

After David had helped Laddie with the tarp, the two men went back into the house. "Now, that we have a moment alone, what exactly happened to Christina. Why does she have to deal with her nightmares? And how is she able to see Paul in her dreams, especially as a vampire? I don't get it," David said as he rummaged through the books.

The young man looked thoughtfully at the ground for a moment. "Well, I already told you that Michael didn't treat her very nicely. She looks a lot like you, and I think Michael always saw you when he looked at Christina. After Star had passed away he started to abuse your girl," he finally replied. "His last attack was the worst, he abused her badly because of a video she had made with a band. He beat her and eventually threw her out. She was lucky that she could stay with a good friend. After some days she decided to start again in Santa Carla."

David looked at him angrily. "What is wrong with Michael? He insults us as monsters, but he is able to beat a woman? That is no way to treat a young lady! He got completely insane! Michael should better stay away from me!"

Laddie looked David in the eyes. "Well, do not worry, I don't think he desires to come to Santa Carla anytime. He has no reason to go there, his family moved away from a long time ago. Michael does not know anybody there - except Christina, of course!"

"I really hope it stays this way," David answered. "And what about the tattoo?" Laddie looked a little thoughtful." Well, it's about Michael, and how he treated her. If I understand her correctly, she has never really come to rest. Michael has allowed her a very good education, she works in kindergarten, as you already know. He also never asked her to give her money to him because he had built up a little money on his own. For that matter, she was always independent. On the other hand, Michael left the upbringing of his two children to Christina. She made sure that the two of them were well housed when she was working or at school. She took care of the household alone. This has ultimately led to Christina having only a handful of friends."

David stared dumbfounded at Laddie but said nothing. "Well, you know, David," Laddie went on, "since Michael has always devalued her, she was always introverted and unsure, and I've often wondered how she could get along with her job since she had to deal with the kid's parents.

Well, to come back to the dreams and the tattoo, it's probably always the same, but since she's in Santa Carla, Paul always turns up as her savior, and Christina is convinced that that must have meaning, that's why she wants this tattoo!"

David nodded absently. "And what about the band?" He finally asked. Laddie smiled. "The bandleader was probably at school with Christina, they both went to the music lessons together, and like her mother, Christina likes to sing and she can sing. This guy probably recognized the potential of Christina and persuaded her to do a video with his band. Christina has written the lyrics but she refused to tour with them because she quickly realized that these guys are not good. They had to do with drugs, booze, and petty crime. Christina did not really want to have anything to do with them. The guys, of course, didn't like it!"

Angrily, David threw one of the books on the table and lit a cigarette. "I would most like to pay them a visit, and Michael too, he almost destroyed my family, but Christina has done nothing wrong! Her mother betrayed us, even if in the end she felt sorry. I almost lost my family," David said, his face deadly serious.

The two men had not noticed that Dwayne stood in the door all the time listening. Now he came into the room and put his hand on David's shoulder. He turned around in surprise and looked from Laddie to Dwayne. "Do they still sleep," he finally asked. Dwayne nodded. "Like babies," he answered.

David looked at Laddie. "Laddie, show him the template," he finally said. Laddie went to his backpack, pulled the picture out and handed it to Dwayne. Then he explained to him what he drew it for and why. Dwayne looked at the picture of Paul for a while.

"David, he has already protected her from me, at night in the forest," he said. "Maybe there is a connection between the two, maybe it always existed, but nobody could tell because the two never met."

Dwayne was about to say something when Paul and Marko's laughter was heard in the hallway. David took the pattern from Dwayne's hand, put it back in Laddie's backpack, and asked Dwayne not to tell Paul. He shrugged, but David knew he could count on him.

"Hey guys, are you all feeling as fine as I do?", Paul asked cheerfully as he entered the room with Marko. "I see you survived last night, Laddie!" Marko rolled his eyes and looked at Paul annoyed, who had sat down on a chair. "He did not quite open his eyes when he started talking about Christina again," Marko explained, his eyes lowered. "I know you do not want to listen to me, David, but have you never wondered if the young lady might be like her mother? Maybe she doesn't want to be with us after she learns the truth ?" Laddie just stared dumbfounded but said nothing.

Paul shook his head, grinning. "Nope," he answered. "She'll love us!" David raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Yes, most likely you," he remarked dryly, causing Paul to laugh.

Then David looked Marko up and down. "I already told you that it will not be easy to get Christina on our side, but she has no choice! She will join the club! If she declines the gentle tour, then she'll find out the hard way. It won't take long anymore until she knows where she belongs!"He was silent for a while.

"I really hope the hard way will not be necessary, "David finally continued, Dwayne had been listening in silence, well but he looked from one to the other. "Yeah, yes, that worked so well with Michael," he finally said,

"Will you question me," David snapped, glaring at Dwayne, who raised his hands placatingly Marko grimaced, "Nice, we're arguing about the girl already," he said, "does that remind you of something?"

Paul took a deep breath. "Stop it, everyone! Christina is not Star, just wait and see," he said." She'll be glad to have someone to take care of her for once. She no longer has to bear any responsibility and can finally settle down. Maybe our friend Laddie will help us here, and maybe he would also like to come back to the family!"

The others looked at the big, blond vampire in amazement, because it was not that often that Paul gave a serious comment on the best. He had learned to hide his intelligence and play the group clown during his time as a vampire. "I think it would be nice if I could be part of the family again," Laddie remarked a little shyly. The four vampires smiled and nodded, "We really would like it, too," Dwayne replied.

The vampires and Laddie stashed his last belongings in the car after that, the five of them made their way to Santa Carla.


	11. Paul

Laddie had been back from Modesto for a few days now, but Christina knew nothing about it. David had asked him not to say anything yet, because if he had, Laddie would have had to tell her about the help of the Lost Boys. In David's opinion, it was way too early to inaugurate the young woman in their secret of. He knew that Christina was very suspicious of strangers since the incident in the forest.

Laddie had told David that Christina had been at the boardwalk with him a few times during the night, but that did not change David's mind. The leader simply did not want to take the risk that his daughter wouldn't roll with the punches.

After all, David and the other Lost Boys had learned the hard way that it didn't work to force people into their "nightlife," as they called it. There were people who were very resilient, and sometimes they were actually successful. That had nearly killed the vampires back then.

David knew he had acted flippantly and with a vengeance back then. Although he looked cold on others, his daughter was important to him, she had a permanent place at his side. David really hoped that Christina would be willing to voluntarily switch to the dark side of life. He really wanted to spare her any suffering. But he would not let up either, he was quite stubborn and usually, he got what he wanted.

Since Laddie had been back in town he stayed with the vampires. At nighttime, the fife of them went out to other small towns that were close to Santa Carla. During the day, even Laddie slept. David didn't force him to become one of them yet. The leader had talked about it with Dwayne. He recommended to let Christina and Laddie join the coven together. It would make everything more bearable for both.

Laddie was glad that David gave him time to fully join the vampires. The four vampires had created a home under the workshop, which was reasonably comfortable. In contrast to their old quarters, there was electricity and a bathroom with shower a toilet and running warm water. Laddie was really happy. Since a long time, he didn't need to think about how to pay his bills. He felt free and enjoyed playing computer games with Paul and Marko or read a book. Later, as a full-fledged vampire, he would try to find a shop to get work as a tattoo artist. He really missed doing this.

On a Saturday night, Christina got persuaded by Zoe to go out with her and two men whom Zoe had met in the cafe. According to Zoe's stories, these two did not exactly match Christina's taste, but she had not been out with Zoe for a while, so Christina wanted to do Zoe the favor. She was also curious because Zoe seemed to have a crush on one of those guys.

The two women hadn't been out for some drinks for quite some time, because Christina did not want to be out in the dark anymore, which she still could not explain. Zoe often served in the cafe until late in the evening, mostly also on the weekend anyway.

Well, since Laddie had been at the boardwalk with Christina, even during the dark, Christina felt a little safer again. Sure, the fear was not gone, but it was not so bad for her anymore. Nevertheless, Christina was startled by every noise and felt like she had to look over her shoulder because she felt being watched.

Christina wanted to be free from the silly fear! She wanted to go out! She wanted to have fun! She was tired of hiding at home every night. The club had its own car park and Christina just drove there by car. That night the club was pretty busy and Christina had some trouble finding her friend.

Paul also was in there. He was sitting at the bar, watching in amusement as Christina was looking for her friend by squashing through the crowded club with an annoyed expression.

"Hey, there, you finally found us," Zoe shouted to drown out the loud music when Christina discovered them. "Well, boys, this is my friend Christina, Christina, this is Bill and Ted," she introduced her two companions then.

"Hi," Christina answered smiling and greeted the two men a little reluctant. "Pretty crowded tonight, was not so easy to find you, have you been in here long," she asked. "Well, half an hour maybe," replied Ted, the smaller of the two men.

"Yeah, we told Zoe about our work in the bank," Bill explained while Zoe smiled at him. "We have never been here before," he continued. "Usually that's not quite our level."

Christina looked him up and down and did not like him and his friend. "Okay," she finally answered. "And what more matches your level," she asked annoyed, raising an eyebrow.

Ted looked grinning. "Well, we usually go to a better club a bit outside the city," he said. "The public there is, frankly, more like us, but we like Zoe, so we came anyway."

Christina nodded. "Well, I do not like standing on so fine scales, I like it a lot here, nice service, good music, and nice people, what more could you ask for," she said, giving Bill a derogatory look.

Ted shrugged. "Well, tastes are different," he finally said. "I'm not as picky as Bill." Although Paul sat at the bar, his keen senses as a vampire allowed him to understand every word of the conversation, and he grinned in amusement. Zoe's two companions definitely weren't people Christina liked, and they were merciless, talking only about her work in the bank as if nothing else mattered.

Christina had turned away from the three after a few moments and did not even register how Ted tried to catch her attention. Paul laughed quietly to himself. David, Dwayne, and Marko did not know what they missed here. It was funny to watch Christina and her companions!

Ted tried, again and again, to get into a conversation with Christina, but she did not listen properly. Obviously, Christina had better taste. Her gaze was directed repeatedly to the dance floor. Finally, Christina whispered something in her friend's ear and walked over to the dance floor.

Paul watched her as she danced and closely examined her friend's two companions from a distance. Paul estimated the men in their mid to late thirties. Both men had an accurate haircut and wore expensive suits with ties. The smaller one had dark blond hair which was gelled backward. The other man had dark brown hair and receding hairlines. Both were clean-shaven and wore black, shiny-cleaned expensive shoes.

Christina seemed to dive into her own world after a few minutes as she danced. Paul would have liked to go over to her, her appearance in Santa Carla had aroused feelings in the vampire, which he had always believed he had discarded her with his humanity.

Paul understood well why David was so reluctant to approach his child and make himself known, but that did not mean Paul liked it. But what was he supposed to do, David was the boss, and while the Lost Boys usually made decisions together when the going gets tough, as in this situation, David's word was law.

So Paul had no choice but to watch her because he knew David well enough to know that he had reasons to do so. About two hours later, most of the time Christina had spent on the dance floor, Zoe said goodbye to Christina. Bill had actually persuaded Zoe to go somewhere else with him and it actually looked like they were spending the night together. Christina did not like the idea, she thought the man was an arrogant asshole, and besides, she felt abandoned by her friend. But what was she supposed to do? Zoe was an adult, and if she went anywhere else with this man, please, Christina wouldn't tell her not to do so!

After Zoe had told Christina about her plane to leave with Bill she finally left the club. Christina had drunk some glasses of wine, the last one was still in her hand. Ted offered to take her home. "That's really nice of you," she had answered. "But I've already called a cab," Christina lied, she definitely did not want to sit in the same car with him.

She was also worried about Zoe and was still not thrilled that she had gone out with Bill. In front of the club, Christina was still waiting for Ted to leave, then she went to her car. Actually, she was not supposed to drive after all the wine she had drunk, she was well aware of that.

Actually, Christina had planned to call a cab with her smartphone, but then she had seen that her battery was empty. Stupidly, her companions were all gone and she did not want to ask a stranger about it. It was just too embarrassing.

She could have walked easily, that would take about half an hour, before the incent in the woods she'd done that more often, but the idea of walking all the way through the darkness in the middle of the night was too much for her. She just was not ready to do that. She had already made great progress in her newfound fear of the dark, she did not want to overdo it!

Still, she stood awkwardly in front of her car for a while, wondering if she really should take the risk of still driving in her condition. Christina did not notice that she was being watched by Paul. He had left the club behind her and stood in the shadows a few feet from the parking lot.

Finally, the fear of the dark prevailed. Christina unlocked the car and sat on the driver's seat. As she started the engine and searched for a CD in the glove compartment, Paul strolled slowly toward the car and stopped two meters from the open driver's door.

When she was ready to close the door, he smiled at her. "Hey," he said, raising his hand in greeting. She looked at him perplexed and recognized him again, Christina had noticed him on the first night she had been at the boardwalk with Zoe. He was a member of the "weird" biker gang. Actually, this man was one of the first people Christina met in Santa Carla when she paid for her tank and asked for the way.

This man had also been in the ticket booth of the gas station with one of his friends. That night, he held up the door for Christina. The young woman had noticed his face because he had a very friendly, open smile and very beautiful eyes. But although he looked kindly on Christina, she just could not shake the feeling that anything about this man was odd.

He was wearing faded jeans with cracks on his knees and dark brown western boots tonight. Under the black leather jacket, which the man obviously wore every time Christina saw him, he had pulled a red and black plaid flannel shirt. His long, blond hair had been tied into a ponytail.

The man appeared at first glance as if he might be in his mid-twenties, but his eyes had wisdom that could only be found in older people. Christina did not know how to describe it differently!

She felt a little queasy and did not know how to react, but as already mentioned, he had a sympathetic smile and made no move to get closer. "Hello," she finally answered.

"Are you really planning to drive yourself?" He asked. "You do not really want to do that!" She shrugged her shoulders. "Actually, I do not do that, but it's the middle of the night, and I do not want to walk home, and getting a taxi is almost impossible, so I drive. It only takes a few minutes by car," she said and smiled back in embarrassment.

He nodded. "There's a lot of police on the road, have not you noticed that? They could stop you, are you sure you want to risk it, you've really had more than enough wine," he pointed out.

Christina looked at him in surprise. "How do you know how much I drank," she asked. Paul grinned. "I have eyes as you see and I' am a good observer," he replied.

"It does not matter, I want to go home now," Christina nagged and made a move to close the door, but Paul held the door tight. "You do not really want to risk that," he said again, sounding quite certain. "I could drive you home, you said yourself it's not a long way, what's should happen, really I would not mind!"

Christina shook her head annoyed. She did not know him and did not want to get involved in something like that. Paul's eyes sparkled with amusement as he noticed Christina's hesitation.

He knew that he would not just get into her car and that Christina would not allow him to drive the car. He could not blame her for this mistrust, after all, he was a stranger to her. However, this was not an obstacle for Paul at all, he simply used his special skills and manipulated the will of the young woman.

She tried again to close the door and looked him straight in the eye, now he had her. "Come on," he said in an almost hypnotic voice. "Slide over and I'll take you home." At that moment, a patrol car drove past the two, which Paul was very grateful for.

Christina looked after the car and then back into Paul's eyes. Christina did not know what was happening to her at all. She did not know this man. She did not want him sitting on the driver's seat. But what did she do?

Christina slid over the center console of the vehicle into the passenger seat and watched as the man adjusted the driver's seat to his size. He did the same with the rearview mirrors. Then he looked at her and Christina noticed that his friendly smile had turned into a cheeky grin.

Christina wanted to scream out loud, but since she looked him in the eye, she felt as if she no longer had her own will. She heard his suppressed laugh but was not even able to open the passenger door and simply get out of the car.

Paul closed the door. He could do anything with her now, he could just take her to the workshop where her father could welcome her, but no, David did not want it, so Paul would nicely take her home and then he simply would disappear.

"I like the music," he said before he left after Christina had told him her address, which he actually knew, which of course, Christina did not know. While driving, Paul thought back to the observations he had made at the club.

Christina had behaved quite strangely in many ways. Bill had given the young women some drinks, obviously, the guy tried to impress especially Christina's friend. With Christina, however, he had little success with something like this. She did not like the man and that's it.

Christina had drunk some glasses of wine that evening, and every time the waiter brought the drinks she had no problem with it. Several times, however, Bill himself went to the counter for drinks. Christina didn't drink one sip from these glasses. She always disappeared in the direction of the dance floor and then put her glass down somewhere on the way and later got herself a new one.

Ted, the other man had tried a few times to start a conversation with her, but Christina never really listened. She just did not want to let him get closer. The only person she really talked to was her friend and the bartender. She looked to Paul as if she had plunged into a world of her own.

As she danced, Paul had studied her closely. Her shoulder-length, straight hair was the same color as Star's hair. But that was the only similarity between Christina and her mother.

The young woman was really the female version of David. Her features, however, were softer, and her eyes were not as cold as David's, though they were exactly the same color. Paul liked the many freckles on her face. The fact that she had been so small awakened his protective instinct. Paul found that somehow funny because after all, he was basically an extremely dangerous predator.

Actually, Christina did not comply in any way with his image of women. She was too small, dressed relatively unremarkable, had rather small breasts, but a little too thick thighs and her belly stuck out a little. Paul did not think she was fat, or ugly, but not pretty either.

Still, the tall blond vampire just could not help himself, he was attracted to the young woman, and that had nothing to do with her inviting body odor. Maybe it was because she was the antithesis of the women he'd met in the course of his life.

Christina was deep in her thoughts. She thought about the words her mother used to preach to her when Christina intended to meet with her few friends. 'Do not trust a stranger! Do not take drinks from people you do not know! Never leave a drink unattended somewhere! Should that ever happen, buy a new one! Never drink from a bottle without an etiquette ...! ' There were still a lot of rules of this kind, without which Christina had never come out of the house when her mother still had been alive.

Star had never told the young woman why. Christina was not stupid, and for some of these rules, no explanation was needed. It happened often enough that young women in clubs or at parties were made limp and raped after they were given drugs. Everyone knew that.

Christina had always assured her mother that she would be careful, but nevertheless, the constant warnings made Christina grow into a very distrustful young woman who was having a hard time making new friends. Christina sometimes had the feeling that her mother wanted to lock her up somewhere until she grew up.

Stars constant admonitions influenced Christina's behavior. Her friends found her a bit strange as well. Nobody could understand why she sometimes tipped off a half-full glass and then got exactly the same drink again. She could not understand it herself.

Christina had just known that Michael was praying her siblings exactly the same rules again and again since the two were old enough to get out with friends on their own.

Michael did not care where Christina went or what she did! The longer she stayed away, the better he was. Star and Michael had more arguments over Christina, which gave him another reason to hate the young woman. Star had often cried secretly when her husband once again made comments about Christina. Christina knew that exactly, but what should she do? She just tried to act so that Michael had no reason to complain.

And now she sat in her car next to this strange man with the sympathetic smile and let him drive her home. Christina was not happy with this situation and did not understand how it was possible that she had acted against her own will. The strangest thing, though, was that she somehow trusted him. She could not explain, but she was sure this man would not harm her in any way.

The ride, which was silent, did not take very long, maybe five minutes. "So, here we are," he said suddenly into her thoughts and looked at her with a smile. Christina smiled back.

"Oh, we're already there," she replied as she unlocked the passenger door and got out of the car. "Is the central locking broken," he asked. She nodded and closed the doorknob again. He locked the car and walked around the car, dropping the key into her hand. "My friends and I have a workshop," he said. "Maybe we can fix that for you."

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "But you've helped me already, that was really nice of you." He looked at her for a moment. "No problem," he answered. "But now in with you, you're certainly tired." Christina nodded, feeling surprisingly safe in his presence. "Okay thank you again and have a good night," she said. Before she could turn away from him to open the front door, he grabbed her and gave her a peck on her lips, then he turned around and walked away. Again Paul couldn't help himself, he simply had to steal a little kiss from her!

Christina looked at him startled and turned away from him. Then she remembered he hadn't even told Christina his name. She turned back to face him, but he was gone. She was very surprised because she could see the street well in both directions, but he was not there anymore.

She had not heard a car he could have climbed into. He was just gone without a trace. Christina still felt his lips on her own and touched her lips with her right hand. Why had he done that?

Of course, Paul had the ability to fly, as the other Lost Boys, and while he was on his way to the boardwalk, he wondered a bit about the feelings that this young woman aroused in him. He had not been able to think of anything else for weeks when he looked at her, he just felt the need to protect her. She was so small, so fragile that he would never hurt her. It must have been because David's blood ran through her veins, which connected this girl to the boys, otherwise he could not explain it.

"Hey, where have you been," said Marko, who suddenly stood next to him when Paul reached his motorcycle, that he had left behind on the boardwalk. Paul turned to his best friend and laughed.

"I had to save David's little one from stupidity," he replied. Then he explained everything to Marko and both had to laugh. "People are a bit reckless sometimes," Marko said finally. "And what happened between you," he then asked with his typical innocent grin.

Paul shook his head. "I really had the wish to take her home to her daddy, but I'm not allowed to, although I do not know what David is waiting for, he wants to have her in our family too. Okay, to be honest, I've stolen a little kiss from Christina." Marko shook his head and raised an eyebrow. "Paul, you're really unbelievable," Marko told his friend.

Then Paul told Marko about the feelings he had for Christina. "I found it really hard not to grab her, and you know what to do," he finished his report. "You really want her," Marko smirked. Paul nodded, smiling.

"She's really cute," Marko explained, "but she is the exact opposite from every woman you ever had more to do with." Paul shrugged. "Well, I just can not help it, I've never felt anything like this before," he finally said before starting his engine and driving home followed by Marko.


	12. Plans

The two men sat in William's car, it was finally Friday. They were glad that another week in the bank was finally over. William and Tedrick needed a legitimate job as a cover.

Actually, they were doing a very different job, one that did not pay their rent, mostly anyway. William and Tedrick did their real job out of sheer idealism; it was about freedom, justice, and the American way. The men were hunters, no, they did not hunt harmless animals, they eliminated supernatural creatures!

"I really hope we'll be done with the job in this city soon," Tedrick said to William, who was sitting on the driver's seat and nodding in agreement. "What's up with your nice lady?" Tedrick asked.

"Well, I persuaded her to come to our club tomorrow night. Honestly, after we have seen this damnd freak in her favorite club last Saturday, I'm not willing to take her there anymore! And surely, I don't want her to go into this club alone or with her weird friend," William explained.

Tedrick smiled. "That sounds good. You should get your girlfriend to bring her weird friend, though I don't think she'll be convinced to come with us! We know the fact from last Saturday, I tried a few times to talk to her but she did not let me get any closer. When we finally left, she preferred to drive herself as drunk as she was."

William looked at his friend in confusion. "Well, I offered the chick to take her home, so I might have had the opportunity to at least deal with this problem, but the woman refused the offer, she is very distrustful," Tedrick explained.

William nodded. "It's a pity, it would have been too easy, so you tell me she actually drove herself rather?" Tedrick shook his head. "No, she is not," he explained. "You will not believe it, she thought I was gone and went to her car and now guess who followed her? And what do you think who was going to sit down at the driver's seat after a brief exchange of words?"

William looked at his friend curiously. "I do not know, but I guess you'll tell me soon." Tedrick nodded. "The freak drove her car! He has taken her home, or maybe not! If we are lucky enough, maybe "this" problem has resolved by the tall, blond freak!"

William looked thoughtfully out the window. "Possibly, but I want to know, I'll tell my sweetheart to call her friend to offer her to come with us tomorrow night," William suggested. "Then we know if we need to take care of this problem or not."

Tedrick nodded. "That's a good idea because our friends do not like the idea that their little sister is hanging out with this woman! I'm expecting their phone call later this evening. I'll tell you tomorrow night how the conversation went, I'm assuming that you can't wait to see your sweetheart again! It seems to be something serious, with the both of you."

William just nodded smiling and drove off. The men shared an apartment, that's what they've been doing for years. When they were called to a city where there were obviously too many supernatural creatures, they initially sought a perfectly normal job to maintain their cover and a cozy place to stay.

When the dirty job was done, they initially stayed at this location until their services were needed elsewhere. William and Tedrick then left immediately, taking care of the problem.

Both men had been born in Santa Carla, both of them had to deal with the loss of a family member to the pack of werewolves, that's why they especially hunted the fleabags. And both of them had been moved to another town by their parents afterward around the age of eleven. William's and Tedrick's parents had been friends for a long time, and the men knew each other since they had been very young kids.

William and Tedrick were well educated and they had a university degree. They had studied business as an academic major, therefore they had always succeeded in getting a job in the bank or getting a high position in a company, but they never liked the fact that their jobs forced them to wear formal clothes. But even if the men didn't like it, it served their cover, so they did anyway.

William understood why his sweetheart's friend did not like the club outside the city. She was the kid of a vampire and her mother had been a half-vampire back then. Werewolves and vampires were enemies, and many of the people in the club belonged to the pack of the fleabags.

But there was another reason, many of the people in the club also belonged to the upper class, they were loaded and disliked people without enough money. These people were distrustful, because like the vampires they had to keep a secret!

But that's exactly where people William and Tedrick were looking for if you could even call them people. His sweetheart's girlfriend was not one of those people, but she was still a problem, the two men were sure, well, and problems had to be solved, it was that simple.

William was in conflict anyway, and he knew that a lot exactly. He had only made contact with his girlfriend because his and Tedrick's friends, who were the older brothers of the young lady. They had asked William and Tedrick to keep an eye out for her. It was actually nothing more than a job!

William, however, had seriously fallen in love with her, she was the loveliest woman he had ever met. There were far more beautiful women than she was, but she had a heart of gold and was honest and very happy. A serious relationship was just not a good idea with a job like this!

Her brothers had tried to persuade her to leave town with them, that was many years ago. The two had tried to convince her that many supernatural creatures were at home in Santa Carla. At night the city was a dangerous place.

However, she had not believed one word her brothers had told her and declared the two crazy. Sure, why should she take her brothers seriously, after all, the two could never prove the existence of these creatures.

William worried about his girlfriend because the job he was doing would automatically make her a target. These creatures, and he did not care if they were vampires, werewolves, or whatever, would surely attack her first, she was weak and a good lever. These creatures would, of course, use the fact that William would protect his girl at all costs against him!

At home, he went wordlessly in his private area. 'Phew, I should clean up here again,' he thought, choosing a pair of fresh jeans and a shirt from the pile of fresh linen on his desk. He looked at the two pieces of clothing, shook his head, and took the gray suit from the wardrobe he had brought out of the laundry the night before.

He would love to wear his western boots tonight, but he had to resist. He could only wear casual clothes if he was alone with his buddy. William did not want to think about whether his girlfriend really expected him to wear only suits, there were other things he needed to think about.

Half an hour later he had finished showering and packed his bag for the weekend that he wanted to spend with his girlfriend. "Tedrick, I'm leaving now, what have you planned?"

Tedrick smiled. "I'll try to find out more about the freak and his friends, you know, our buddies beat those guys back then, and that guy ended up just a skeleton, we had seen it when we had been young boys! Still, he managed to come back so we can be sure the other bloodsuckers are also back, however that is possible!"

William nodded. "And what about our actual job?" Tedrick looked at his friend a bit helpless. "I know the situation really sucks, but I'm afraid our job has to wait! Your sweetheart's friend is the child of one of the bloodsuckers, and they sure as hell will do anything to pull into their world, we need to prevent that! She would be one bloodsucker more!"

William looked thoughtfully out the window, he really didn't agree. "You know, I do not like this woman very much," he finally said. "But our buddies have assured us that she has absolutely no idea about who, or better, what she actually is. Is it really necessary to eliminate this woman? That would be murder! We have watched her, she doesn't expose any signs of vampirism."

Tedrick was annoyed now. "I know exactly what you mean, but I'm not willing to wait for that to change! We need to wipe this woman out! Our buddies hate the thought that their little sister is hanging around with her, and I think so do you! Or to state it that way, surely the bloodsuckers have long since heard the news that this woman is in town, and if she dies by our hand, we'll lure those guys out of hiding place, and then they're history! And we will make sure not to work as sloppily as our buddies back then! "

"Hey, they were kids back then, and after all, they destroyed the bloodsuckers," William replied. "No one could have guessed that they would eventually come back from their graves! Our friends made a mistake, something like that happened, they just did not know it better."

"You can not be serious," argued Tedrick. "Everyone knows you have to burn the remains of vampires or leave the corpses to the sun! Our buddies were working carelessly at the time. They underestimated the consequences of their carelessness! If I tell them later that one of the bloodsuckers is back and walking very alive through this beautiful town hopefully our friends will come back to Santa Carla to finish the work they started all those years ago. Then we would finally be able to do our actual job! "

William looked out of the window, agitated. "Well, maybe you're right! Maybe we'll be able to destroy the bloodsuckers before they start manipulating the young woman to pull her into her world. Maybe she would not need to be wiped out, that would make my girlfriend very happy!"

"William, William, you've always been a dreamer and a bit too good-natured, but let's wait, we'll see what happens soon. We will do what is necessary," Tedrick smiled.

William took his bag, which he had temporarily set down on the floor and went to the door. "Anyway, I'm leaving now!" With these words, he finally went to his car.

He had no desire to continue discussing with Tedrick, it was hopeless anyway. When Tedrick was up to something, he actually did it. William still hoped that the friend of his sweetheart could be saved. Damned, even if he did not like this woman very much, she was completely unaware and had never harmed a person. She did not deserve death!

Just at the moment when William started his car, Tedric's smartphone rang. 'Oh Eddy, on time, as always,' thought Tedrick. "Hey, Eddy, we have not talked for a long time, I was wondering about your email, what's going on?"

"We have a huge problem here," Eddy yelled at the other end of the line. Tedrick took the phone off his ear for a second and looked at it in amazement. That his interlocutor sounded almost hysterical astonished him, that was not Eddy's way. He did not even complain that Tedrick had addressed him by his nickname, that was not normal either.

"Hey buddy, listen carefully," Tedrick finally interrupted his buddy, who somehow talked confusing stuff. "Here's a problem you'll have to solve! We've spotted one of your old friends, and where he is, the three others are not far off! Damn, you showed us back then what was left of that bloodsucker, no more than a pile of bones, and yet he somehow managed to come back from his grave! Looks like you've been doing a very sloppy job! Your brother and you have to come to Santa Carla to finish this job!"

At the other end of the line, it was deathly quiet. "That's not possible, we've all seen their remains," came the answer. "You must be wrong, Tedrick!"

"No, we're not mistaken, this freak is one of them! We have seen the tall, skinny guy with the long, blond hair that was pushed into the tub by the dog, and there's no doubt about that," Tedrick reported. "He's already in contact with your sister's friend, you see, your sister is also in danger! You have to come here immediately!"

"Damn it," Eddy shouted back at the other end, sounding pretty hopeless."We can not come! My brother was bitten, I have no idea where he is! The bloodsuckers have kidnapped him! I have to find him!"

Tedrick almost dropped the phone when he heard the news." Damn, Eddy, you can not be serious," Tedrick spat into the phone. "It's getting better and better!"

For a moment, it was quiet. "Okay, listen, actually we're looking for the werewolves, but we'll still try to track down your old friends and finally destroy them! And just find your brother, maybe it's not too late! But if he is one of them, then you know, hopefully, what you have to do!"

Xxxxxxxx

By the time the two men talked on the phone, Laddie was standing in front of Christina's door at the far end of the city. He was not sure if he should ring or not. He had a bad conscience about her.

She had offered to stay with her until he had his own place to stay, and probably Christina wondered that she had not heard of Laddie yet. He had assured her that he would put the move from Modesto to Santa Carla into action as soon as possible, and after seeing Dwayne and David, he knew very well that there was nothing left in Modesto that could keep him there.

However, David had asked him not to tell Christina that he was in town. Laddie felt like a traitor to Christina. Of course he understood David's reasons exactly, but still, but he still didn't like it!

Sure, Laddie had been very happy that Christina was now living in Santa Carla, and he had been pleased to receive her invitation, but the crucial point for his move was the visit of his old family! The Lost Boys and Star were the best families he ever had!

As a child, of course, he had no idea what the Lost Boys really did to survive, but now Laddie was a grown man and knew exactly what he would do one day if he really joined the vampires. He was scared of it! He was scared to death of Christina's reaction when she learned the truth!

She was a warmhearted, good-natured person, and the lifestyle of her real family would not be easy for her if she ever accepted that way of life. But on the other hand, what else did life have to offer her?

Christina had told Laddie that she was disappointed by people. Her stepfather had treated her badly and only exploited her! Christina's mother, the only confidant she had, had left her far too soon.

Christina never had the chance to meet her biological father, and now Zoe, her best friend also turned away from Christina because of this guy. Paul had told the other's, that he had seen, that Zoe had skipped out on Christina when they had been in the club with the two guys only to have some fun with the weird man!

Christina had to feel very lonely! Laddie really hoped, that no matter what sort of a creature Christina's father was, that she would accept him and the rest of the Lost Boys! Hell, Christina asked Laddie to draw the template for the tattoo she wanted! It was Paul in his vampire state, and she liked him enough to get his picture tattooed!

Christina would be happy that her father still was alive, and that he would show interest in his little girl like David always called her. But would she be happy to be forced into his lifestyle? David would take her in, if she liked it or not, he had already maintained his claim to the rest of the Lost Boys.

Marko and Dwayne had tried to talk David out of it. They had already tried to get Christina's mother into the family, and this mistake almost had cost their lives, but David was stubborn! He just said that Christina had a place where she belonged, and that was to be with them!

Laddie was sure that the first time in his "new" life would be hard to get along with. He also was sure it would be the same for Christina. Laddie really hoped, in the end, she would realize that not everything about being a vampire was bad. He had watched the Lost Boys, he had noticed how much they cared for one another, even if they sometimes aggravated each other. They were just like every other family.

In a way, Laddie and Christina would become killers, predators, but weren't humans killing other humans each day for less than hunger? Humans killed each other for much lower motives than to feed!

After all, they were people who killed others because they had the wrong religion or color of skin. Vampires killed to survive, that was not possible without human blood or any substances contained in it!

Laddie wondered if vampires enjoyed the hunt, well, maybe they did that sometimes when it came to some assholes who had been a pain in everybody's ass.

But Laddie also remembered many nights when the Lost Boys returned to the cave a bit depressed after they got back from dinner. He was a small boy then and never understood why eating made his family so sad. Of course, he knew it better today!

It was odd but since he lived with the Lost Boys again, more and more memories returned, and he knew the boys had never shown him what their other nature looked like. He had asked Dwayne about it a few days ago, the vampire had just explained that no one wanted to scare a little boy. David had made this mistake with Star, the consequences of this stupidity were well known!

Laddie was now hiding on his motorcycle for nearly an hour under the trees that stood in front of the house where Christina lived. There were a lot of cigarette butts around his bike, obviously, he was smoking too much, but should he really worry about it? Soon, this bad habit would not hurt him anymore. It was just another good side effect of vampirism!

Finally, Laddie decided against the idea of talking to Christina. He still felt bad about it, but he did not want to reveal David and the others yet! It was getting dark and Laddie had assured his friends that he would be back when they got up.

He had assumed a job in a tattoo shop on the boardwalk. David and Dwayne had assured him that he did not need to do that, they would make sure that he had everything he needed to live as they had done back then. But Laddie did not want to live at the expense of the Lost Boys, after all, he was grown up! He smoked another cigarette, then pulled on his helmet, started his motorcycle and drove back to the vampire's hiding place.


	13. Creepy bikers

On Friday, after Christina was in the club with Zoe, she got a call from her friend. "Hi, how did you get home last weekend? Ted said he offered to drive you, but you refused?" Zoe asked.

"Oh, well, I had already ordered a cab," Christina claimed. She had used that excuse back then to get rid of Ted. And now she could not tell her friend anything else, even though she had a bad conscience about Zoe. Usually, Christina was honest. "Oh, I wondered," replied Zoe. "Ted is really nice!"

Christina rolled her eyes, clearly, Ted was not as arrogant as Bill, but Christina was bored that he had no other subject to talk about than his work. If he had told of any hobbies, she would have listened to him, but Christina wondered, did these men even have hobbies? And apart from that Christina somehow had the feeling that she just could not trust these men.

She could not explain herself, but something was wrong with them! It sometimes happened that Christina immediately rejected people, and she had never been fooled by that feeling.

"What else did you do when you left the club?" Christina asked. "We went for a bite to eat, Bill invited me," Zoe replied. "Well, then I've spent the night with him, Bill is really super cute!"

Christina really rolled her eyes as Zoe began to rave about her night with Bill. She really could not understand what her friend saw this guy. Maybe it was just the clothes of the two men. Her stepfather had to run around in suits mostly because of his work and he liked it that way. He had treated Christina badly. Maybe she rejected Zoe's friends just because of that, she did not know exactly and she didn't care.

She would have liked to tell her friend about the encounter with the biker dude who had driven her home, but since she had previously presented her lie, she could not do that. The guy was actually very nice and Christina was grateful to him despite her mistrust that he had saved her from a big stupidity.

She really didn't like to think about losing her driver's license because of driving after drinking alcohol, Christina just didn't need that. In Santa Carla, public transit was not that intoxicating. You needed a car in Santa Carla to be independent. In the summer, Christina would not even mind riding everywhere with her bicycle, but during the dark season, she really did not feel like doing it.

Then Christina remembered something, this guy had just kissed her before he disappeared! Christina could not understand why he had done that and she was very scared at first, but it had not felt so bad and she was annoyed that she had not asked for his name.

The whole encounter with this man was somehow scary. She had acted completely against her own will this evening, which she absolutely could not understand. Christina had simply ignored her mistrust and caution, and let the man get into her car.

But no matter how it went, Christina envied Zoe a little and frankly would not mind meeting the strange man again. That would also mean that she would eventually come together with the rest of this weird biker gang, but if he was nice, maybe his buddies were not so bad either! Christina was definitely prefer them before meeting with Bill and Ted one more time!

"Hello, are you listening to me?" Zoe asked. Christina quickly picked up the phone and looked at it as if it could now answer Zoe's question. "Uh sorry, I was just somewhere with my thoughts," Christina finally explained. "What did you say?"

"Christina," Zoe mumbled. "I wanted to know if you would like to come to the club outside the town with Bill and I next night, Ted will be there too and look forward to seeing you again!"

Christina grimaced and shook her head annoyed. "I'm sorry, Zoe," she explained, "but I have a duty in the pool hall next night, Maria is not there, and I do not know how long I have to work!" Another lie, Christina thought, after saying goodbye to Zoe and wishing her much fun.

Of course, she knew exactly when she was finishing work, but she just did not feel like going to this other club! "Do not make lying a stupid habit," Christina said aloud to herself.

Christina decided without further ado that she would go to the club for a drink after the shift in the pool hall. It was late, but she had to leave the house anyway, so she might as well go out and have fun.

Actually, Christina was still careful, but since she had been out with Laddie before she had met people in the club who were nice. To be honest, she really hoped to meet the man who drove her home last weekend. Besides, Christina loved to dance and spent most of her time in the club on the dance floor. There was no need to talk to anyone. And apart from that, she had seriously planned to work on herself to finally get rid of the newfound fear of the dark! After all, she was young and wanted to enjoy her life!

When Christina entered the club next night, she sat down on a free stool at the bar and ordered "cherry banana", a soft drink. She had her car outside and did not want to get into the same situation again as she had the weekend before. Christina talked to the bartender about a city festival that was scheduled to take place next spring on the Boardwalk, when she suddenly noticed a familiar face at the bar.

She really could not believe it, but there was actually Laddie. Of course, Christina was happy to see him, that was completely out of the question, but why had he not told her that he was in town?

Christina felt very sad and in some way betrayed, which also angered her a little. Disappointment spread throughout her. She had known Laddie all her life and liked him very much. He was always something of a big brother to Christina and she trusted him, like no one else in the world.

Should she go over to him and confront him? Well, that decision was taken from her when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around to see who it was.

Paul was just coming back from outside, he had gone there to smoke a cigarette with David and Dwayne. As the three vampires reentered the club, David spotted his daughter standing at the bar looking over at Laddie with a sad face. He did not have to read her mind to guess what was going on inside her, her face told the vampire every single emotion. He understood damn well that she was disappointed, but he himself had left Laddie no choice.

Christina would understand that very soon! David came to the conclusion that today was a good night to finally get in touch with his daughter. Since she had already discovered Laddie, that was no longer to prevent.

When David found out last weekend that Paul had driven Christina home, he had literally taken Paul apart and only calmed down after Paul assured him that he had not touched Christina. But now David was happy about Paul's arbitrary actions.

He sent Paul to speak to Christina and bring her to the vampires' table. Laddie would help, as Christina trusted him. Christina looked puzzled at Paul as he grinned and asked Laddie to bring him a beer. Now Laddie spotted Christina and approached her with a slightly uncertain look on her face. He stopped in front of her and looked sheepishly into her eyes. "Hello Christina!" "That's a surprise," said Christina, sounding very disappointed. "Since when are you here?" Laddie looked uncertainly at the floor. "Well, a while," he replied.

"And is there a reason you did not tell me?" Christina continued. "And, where do you live?" Laddie sighed. "Yes, there is a reason, but I can not talk about that right now," he replied softly, cursing himself for not ringing Christina a few days ago. She could keep a secret to herself.

Laddie understood why Christina was mad at him. He glanced helplessly at David, who shrugged and grinned. This was again typical, Laddie had done David a favor by not telling Christina that he was in town, and he was now the villain in the eyes of the young woman.

"I live with my friends," Laddie finally answered pointing to Paul with his thumb. Paul had been listening in silence, with a serious expression. Man, why did David have to be such an asshole sometimes, was he born that way? Paul had heard enough and interfered now. He put a hand on Christina's shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, come on," said the vampire. "Do not be mad at him, it's really not his fault, we asked him to say nothing to anybody, and you can be sure that there is a good reason!"

Christina looked up at Paul to look him in the eye. "Oh, really," she mumbled. Even though she was rather shy, there were situations, she just could not shut up, and that was such a situation. Besides, although Paul was still a stranger to her after all, she had the feeling that she could tell him everything. "And would you mind telling me this reason?" Now, Paul grinned. "Well, honestly, yes!" Christina just looked at him in bewilderment.

David, Marko, and Dwayne could listen to the conversation from their spot at the table. Marko already rolled his eyes annoyed, while the other two vampires enjoyed themselves. Humans were so emotional!

"Ah, so you have a big secret," Christina stated. Paul nodded, grinning broadly. "Yes, you can say that, but do not worry, you'll soon know this secret, by the way, I'm Paul," he explained, holding out his hand.

Christina sighed and took Paul's outstretched hand. "Well, I'm Christina," she introduced herself, whereupon Paul pressed a kiss on the back of her hand. Christina looked at him in surprise, then turned back to Laddie.

"All right, you're lucky, I'm not resentful," she interjected. "But do not think that the matter is settled here, dude!" While Laddie and Christina finally hugged each other, as they had always done in greeting, David smiled at their reaction.

'Now, what are you waiting for, bring her to our table,' he urged Paul telepathically. 'And get her something nice to drink!' Paul looked over at David with raised eyebrows. 'She sure came here with her car and has to go home with it,' he replied to David. 'She certainly will not voluntarily go into the same situation as last weekend!

David grinned at Paul. 'Oh, is that so?' Paul sighed and shrugged. 'Let her come to us first and get to know everyone!' Then Paul turned back to Christina. "Where is your friend," Paul inquired.

Christina looked at him smiling. "She's in one of those noble clubs with her new lover, I'm alone here," she replied. "Zoe asked me if I wanted to go, but I just feel out of place in such clubs, I don't like it there!"

Laddie then grabbed her hand. "Then come to our table," he said, after nodding again in agreement. "Okay, gladly." laughed Christina, taking her glass and following Laddie and Paul.

At the bar table, the three other men were of the odd biker gang were watching the young woman interested. Christina looked a little embarrassed from one of the men to the next.

"Hello," she finally said shyly. The man who seemed to be the leader slowly got up from his barstool without taking his eyes off Christina. He had very fair-haired, shoulder-length hair, wore tight leather jeans, a black shirt, and a long leather coat. He had a piercing gaze and smirked at her.

"Hello, I'm David," he said. "And you have to be Christina! Laddie told us a lot about you." Christina nodded and took his outstretched hand. She felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, which made him smile even more. "Yes, that's right," she finally answered. "Nice to finally meet Laddie's friends."

David nodded and looked at Dwayne. "The silent guy over there is Dwayne," he explained. Dwayne held out his hand and smiled as Christina hesitated for a moment to grab it. Eventually, she told herself that it was nonsense and that he had never done anything to her and shook his hand as well.

"Nice to meet you," she said, but she just could not look him in the eye, which amused Dwayne. He wore dark ripped jeans, black chucks, and his leather jacket over a black shirt. Christina noticed his eye-catching necklace and she wondered again where she had seen it before. Dwayne looked over at David and smiled. 'I wonder how your little one will react when she finds out that I attacked her in the forest!' David shrugged. 'She will survive and quickly realize that you are not her enemy!'

Paul watched Christina and sighed when he noticed her reaction to Dwayne. 'She has good instincts,' Paul said, referring to David. He nodded. 'I think that's called survival instinct,' he answered. 'She already realized that Dwayne no one to mess with!'

'David is right, she will survive,' mingled Marko, who had not yet been introduced to Christina, but who immediately recognized her scent as the one he had perceived in the cave some time ago, and he was sure that his friends had to recognize it too. 'None of you can be that stupid, she is the human that had been in our hiding place! Who knows what she has discovered there!'

Paul looked over at Marko in irritation. 'Now come on, what's she supposed to find there,' he said into Marko's mind. 'What are you so bad-tempered at once?' Marko just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

The evening had started so well, why did Christina show up now? Marko had been looking forward to a night with his family, but he could forget that now! David smiled at Christina again. "The young man to my left is Marko," he said. Christina also shook hands with him in greeting. "Hello," she said, her eyes falling on his skull tattoo on his forearm.

"Hi," he replied curtly. Marko was a little smaller than the others, maybe five feet five, and still more than a head taller than Christina. A wild mane of curly dark-blond hair framed his innocent-looking face with large green eyes. His smile, however, seemed not to be very innocent, this man seemed somehow devious to her.

Like David, he wore tight leather pants and a white mesh top that did not completely cover his flat stomach, his feet were in black heavy-boots, and his leather jacket hung over a chair. David put his barstool next to Christina. "Where are your manners?", he asked with a grin. "Am I really the only one here who comes up with the idea of offering his chair to the only lady at the table?"

The others looked at him blankly, except for Laddie, who realized that David was right and was now a little embarrassed. "Well, you're just a true gentleman," Paul finally said, laughing. "Sorry, we're just what we are," he turned to Christina, who had sat down on David's barstool in the meantime.

"Laddie told us you've been living in Santa Carla only a few months, do you like it here?" David asked after a while. Christina nodded. "Yes, at least something is going on, I like the boardwalk and the beach a lot. I've spent my whole life in a very small town. It was boring most times," she finally explained.

David nodded. "And what did you do there," he asked with interest. "I have worked in the Kindergarten of an Indian Reservation, and looked after my younger siblings," Christina answered. "That filled most of the days, as you can imagine!" David looked at her thoughtfully. "Why did you take care of your siblings," he scrutinized, though he already knew the reason. "Would not that be the job of your mother?"

Christina looked sadly into her glass. "My mother died when I was 17," she replied. "My stepfather works a lot, and I promised my mother to take care of the little ones!"

'Yes, sometimes some people get what they deserve,' Marko said. 'Damn, Marko, what's the matter with you?' Dwayne asked, annoyed. 'You are behaving strangely tonight! Where do you hide the Marko we know?'

Paul looked at them blankly and took Christina's glass off the table. "Tell me, what is this?" He asked and sniffed at her glass. Christina looked at him. "Cherry-banana," she replied. Paul raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Aha, I already told the gentlemen here that you are certainly here with your car," he said and started to laugh. The others grinned.

Christina looked at Paul sheepishly and nodded. Marko looked totally annoyed since Christina had come to the table. If he was honest, he could not even say exactly what was wrong with him. Sure, he still feared the young woman would react like her mother when she learned the truth. Still, Marko was just as curious about David's daughter as the others. He was annoyed at a feeling towards the young woman coming from deep inside, which he thought he had long since discarded.

Marko tried to convince the three other vampires to finally take Laddie into the family and ignore Christina, but secretly he shared Paul's opinion that it would be nice to finally have a female vampire in the family. Well, and who would be better suited than David's child?

The Lost Boys knew female vampires. The gang had friends in San Francisco who belonged to the pack of Phillip, Max's best friend. There were female vampires there. But none of the Lost Boys wanted to have such women in the pack. David and Dwayne had their own opinions about these ladies.

They both believed that most women were too gentle to deal with vampire's lifestyle. The remaining women received this life with open arms, yes, they really longed for it. However, this sort of woman proved to be insane and absolutely down and dirty, even against their own pack!

Who wanted to have something like this in the family? With Christina, however, the third sort of a woman came into the game now. When she was conceived, Star was a half-vampire. Christina on paper belonged to the gang since she was born! This young lady was supposed to fit in perfectly with the family, but Marko simply feared that she might destroy her family, as her mother had done long ago.

On the other hand, vampires could read Christina's mind. She thought quite loudly and each of the four could read in her like an open book. She felt lonely, especially now that she realized Laddie had been living in Santa Carla for a while and had not told her.

Christina tried to hide her feelings but was not very good at it. The young woman was pretty mad at Laddie, she was afraid of Dwayne, David seemed totally scary to her, which of course was very amusing.

Christina liked Paul, but she didn't trust Marko for some reason. Holy shit, how did he earned this mistrust. Well, those were probably the "best conditions" to bring the young woman into the family! And yet, Marko was interested in Christina, no matter how much he denied it!

"Do you know what, girl," Paul finally said, interrupting Marko's thoughts. "I'll get you something decent to drink, and later one of us will bring you home". Laddie looked at him in astonishment. Christina could not resist a grin.

"Ah, that's nice, but you really don't need to do this," she replied. "I wanted to go anyway!" David looked at her again with his piercing look. "You're just here, come on, stay a little bit longer, we'll make sure you get home safely," he said.

Christina looked at the men. Laddie nodded, smiling. "Hey, do not be a spoilsport, it's been a while since we've had a drink together." Christina thought for a moment, "All right," she finally said, looking directly into Paul's eyes. "I guess you would like to get some wine," he asked.

"That would be nice, thank you," Christina answered and Paul disappeared. A few minutes later he was back carrying a tray, David, Dwayne, and Laddie preferred a good whiskey, Marko and Paul liked Bier and Christina wine. They clinked glasses while David stared at Christina, but she did not notice.

"Have you already found interesting places in Santa Carla other than the boardwalk," he asked with interest. "Yeah, sure," she replied, "a few weeks ago I was even at Hudson's bluff. It's totally beautiful up there, the view to the town is beautiful. I discovered something that is totally cool, "she explained, David arched an eyebrow.

"And what should that be," he finally asked," Christina told him totally excited about what she had seen in the cave completely clueless that the men knew exactly what she had to say.

"You know, there are places in town where you should stay away from," Marko replied mysteriously, "and the sunken hotel is one of them!" Christina looked confused at Marko. "What do you mean? I was only there for a few minutes," Christina justified herself. "I had the feeling that there was somehow living there so I left. I would not want any stranger to being so easy in my own living room," she explained. David nodded. "Did you tell anyone about your discovery," he asked. Christina shook her head," No," she replied "I only told you, and Laddie," she added, the four vampires throwing knowing looks at each other, "well then we should just keep this secret for ourselves," David finally said, and the three others grinned, and Christina gave him a quick look "I had no intention of telling anyone else," she explained annoyed, and David nodded.

Christina did not feel so well in the presence of these men. They were kind of creepy. "Maybe I should go now," she said after a while. She got up and was about to reach for her jacket when "Welcome to the jungle" came out of the speakers.

"Nonsense, you're not going anywhere," Paul exclaimed euphorically, he loved this song. "Not until you've danced with me," he added with a laugh, holding out his hand to Christina. The young woman sighed. "Where are you just taking this persistence from?", she asked, taking his hand. The two were just turning around when they heard David's voice behind them. "Paul," was all he said in a quiet dangerous-sounding voice.

Christina and Paul looked at him, her uncertain, he grinning with raised eyebrows. 'Do not worry, I'll be very good,' he told David telepathically and raised his hands defensively, then took Christina's hand again and the two disappeared on the dance floor.

Marko watched the two on the dance floor with a smug grin on his face. "Hey David, it looks like Paul could actually wrap this suspicious woman around his finger," he said after a while. David looked at him with a smile. "Yes, it may be, he is one of us and can manipulate her," he replied, "but she is quite fascinated by your tattoo, didn't you notice that she barely managed to take her eyes off your arm?"

Marko looked at David in astonishment. "Hm, I did not actually notice," he finally replied with a grin. "I had the feeling that she does not like me!" David laughed. "And you just take it that way ... usually these women were always a challenge for you," he remarked. "Even if that has not happened for a long time, where is your fighting spirit?"

Marko was not stupid, he knew immediately that David was trying to manipulate him! Dwayne watched the exchange between David and Marko with raised eyebrows but said nothing. He knew just like David if anyone could manage to influence Christina in such a way that she would join them willingly, that was Marko.

This innocent-looking devil was very good at convincing young ladies like Christina. Besides, Dwayne had long ago seen through his friend. Marko liked Christina, even if he did not want to admit it. He could not fool Dwayne, Marko's body language told the brunette vampire all that was needed. Of course, David had not noticed that he was too busy thinking up a plan that would bring Christina into the family, that he did not notice Marko's ambitions.

"Maybe I should try my luck," Marko said after a while, then put his beer down on the table and headed toward the dance floor with a determined expression. He stood there for a few minutes, when a love song was played, he went to Christina and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to him and he spread his arms to encourage her to dance.

Christina did not know what to do with Marko's request and glanced over at Paul a bit helplessly. He shrugged and looked around for a blonde Marko had pointed out to him. 'She's been watching you for a while,' Marko had told him.

Laddie watched from the table what was going on between Christina, Paul, and Marko. "What's going on there," he asked, somewhat surprised. "Annoying the lady I would say," David replied laughing. "And as for this young lady, Marko would probably be the better choice for her, he is down to earth and not so unpredictable."

Laddie nodded, lost in thought. "What if she doesn't accept one of them?", he asked. David looked at him smiling. "Well, we'll see what will happen," he said. "But I would be happy if she would fall in love with one of them because then it would be easier for her to become a member of our family. She will join the club, I will not accept anything else. She is my child and it there's only one place in this world for her! What about you, my friend?" he asked.

Laddie looked at him thoughtfully for several minutes. "Well, I really missed you guys and I feel like I can not live a normal life anymore since I was with you when I was a kid, I could not handle other kids anymore. I have always been a maverick without any real friends. I always felt that something was missing, so I would like to join your club, even if it scares me."

Dwayne only looked at him thoughtfully. "We know very well that this decision is not easy," David replied after a while. "We all had to make that decision someday, but in the end, none of us ever regretted it, we'll make sure it'll be the same with you!"

Dwayne put an arm around Laddie's shoulder. "You know, we are your family and would always help you and there is nothing to fear." He had not quite finished that sentence when Paul reappeared at the table, with new drinks, of course. "What are you talking about," he asked. David looked at him laughing. "About making a small party in the workshop tomorrow night," he replied. "Who invites the little one? Will it be Marko or you?", David asked.

Laddie looked at Paul intently. Paul glanced at the crowd on the dance floor, where Christina was already lying in Marko's arms for the second song. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I've just discovered my next meal and Marko and Christina are a sweet couple, just make sure Marko brings her home safely. Your little girl is really nice and I don't want her to get harmed in any way, "he replied.

With these words he took a sip of his beer. "See you later," he said then, disappearing back into the crowd. After a few minutes, David, Dwayne, and Laddie saw him leaving the club with a girl who was heavily made-up and wearing a very short skirt.

Laddie looked at the two men in surprise. "Do I want to know what's going on," he finally asked. Dwayne and David shook their heads. "Paul," said David. "And a girl who will never reappear. Something like this didn't happen for a long time," he added with a serious expression.

Laddie looked contrite on the floor. "That's what scares me," he said finally. David looked at him smiling. "Boy," he answered. "We are who we are, and you belong to us, and we are there for you and will help you, you can always count on that."

Laddie nodded. At that moment, Christina and Marko came back from the dance floor. David smiled at the young woman. "Well, you must be thirsty," he said, holding out a fresh glass of wine. She nodded and picked up the glass.

"Thanks, I really need it now," she replied. Christina could not understand what had just happened. She danced with Paul when Marko approached her and invited her to dance as well. She did not really want to dance with Marko, but she had the feeling that she did not have a choice and finally gave in to it. Strangely enough, the body contact with Marko felt so right and in the end, she enjoyed being so close to him. He smelled so damn good!

Christina toasted to the men and downed her wine. David watched her with amusement. "Hey, we're having a little party in our workshop tomorrow night, are you coming?", he asked, smiling, in a tone that allowed no resistance. "Marko can pick you up."

Marko looked at his friends with raised eyebrows. 'Is there something I should know,' he asked David by telepathy. He threw him a sharp look. 'You can guess three times,' he finally answered. 'By the way, you're cute together, Paul said,' he added. Marko nodded. 'The little one is cute too, and her scent ... irresistible.'

Christina looked at David uncertainly, and there was that feeling again. Against her will, she said that she would like to come to the little party. Three vampires manipulated Christina at the same time, so she simply had no chance. Laddie, who had missed everything because he was watching the action on the dance floor, was pleased when Christina agreed. He was a bit surprised because he felt that she did not feel comfortable under the intense gaze of the vampires, but nevertheless, he found it great to be able to spend time with her. Christina would realize that none of the men had bad intentions, at least not from the point of view of the vampires.

Dwayne and David looked at each other with a grin. Christina watched the three men confused. It looked like they were talking to each other without words. "Guys, I'm really tired and I want to go home now," she said. "Oh, and you, my friend owe me something, just don't think I will forget about that," she added as she put her hand on Laddie's arm.

Marko looked at her. "I'll take you home now," he said firmly. She looked a little confused, but then nodded and said goodbye to the other three men. David took her hand and held it a little longer, finally, he pressed a kiss on it. "See you next night," he said. "Marko picks you up at one-twenty, okay." Christina nodded.

Marko grabbed her hand and led her from the club to his motorcycle. "You like motorcycles, hopefully," he asked with a smirk as he sat down on his bike. Christina smiled. "Yeah, I used to drive myself, I had a 750 Suzi," she answered. "But I have not ridden a motorcycle myself for a long time, I do not know if I can do it anymore!"

Marko grinned as he imagined the little woman driving such a heavy bike. "Well, I'm sure once you've learned that, you're not going to forget it," Marko finally said, laughing suppressed, then offered his hand to help her on the pillion. "Okay, where are we going," he asked.

Christina told him her address. "Ready," he inquired. "Yes, let's go," she said a little louder to drown the engine of his engine. Marko nodded and drove off. On the way to Christina's apartment, Marko had to stop at red at a traffic light.

Next to him was a car on the left turn lane. When Marko recognized the driver, he barely trusted his eyes. 'David, we have a serious problem here,' he said into David's mind, conveying the picture to the three vampires that he saw himself.

The driver of the car was Tedrick. The vampires noticed this asshole and his buddy about ten years ago in San Francisco. The two pricks were hunters, and although they were actually in search of werewolves, the men had managed to kill two vampires who were friends of the Lost Boys. Before, the men had tortured the vampires. These men were completely insane, especially Tedrick!

He and Marko stared at each other angrily. 'Chill Marko,' Paul reported. 'These are friends of Christina's friend. They are completely harmless!'

'Shit, Paul, sometimes you're such an idiot!', Marko heard Dwayne's answer. 'Think back ten years, these are the hunters who killed Jesse and Severen!' Paul did not say anything for a moment.

'They went to the club last weekend with Christina and her friend,' he finally explained. 'Shit, I did not recognize them!' Marko broke eye contact with Tedrick for a second and looked through the rearview mirror at Christina's face. Shit, he was responsible for her safety!

Marko did not think long about what he should do. He glanced again at Tedrick, who was looking at him with a hate-ridden face. Marko accelerated and left at breakneck speed. It did not bother him that Christina cried out behind him and clung to him! It did not bother him that the traffic light was still red. Marko just raced off and decided to take Christina to the workshop. Nothing in the world could induce him to leave the woman alone in her apartment, not in this situation! He noted that Tedrick had changed lanes and followed them at an equally breakneck pace.


	14. Captured 1

Christina didn't understand Marko's reaction. He noticed the car that stopped on the left-turn track next to them. Marko did not wait for the traffic light to turn green but just drove off, at breakneck speed.

Christina had no idea that Marko knew the man in the car next to them, and neither had Marko's hateful looks agitated her. Of course, she had recognized Ted, and turned her head away, hoping he would not see her.

When Marko drove off without warning, Christina had no choice but to cling to him, otherwise, she would have fallen off the back of the bike. She could not know that maybe that was a better option. She cried out in shock and saw in the rearview mirror that Marko then grinned sneakily. Christina suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Paul was at the boardwalk with his female companion. Tilda or Tina, that was her name, Paul did not listen properly, he thought about Marko and the hunters. 'Shit, the guy comes after us', he heard Marko in his thoughts. Paul's new friend suddenly didn't interest him anymore.

To be honest, the tall blond vampire had long since realized that he had made a mistake. He should have stayed with Christina because somehow Paul wasn't sure anymore if Marko really wanted to get closer to Christina or if he just wanted to test her, as it was Marko's way.

Tilda or whatever didn't stop telling Paul everything about her life. Paul didn't listen, he just wanted a quick meal. But no, Madame wanted to eat something herself, so Paul sat with her in a fast-food restaurant and was getting impatient.

When she finally finished her meal, she suggested to Paul that he could come to her apartment. "You know, I just remembered that I still have something to do," Paul answered curtly. The woman looked at him in bewilderment. "Are you kidding me?" She asked sourly. "We wanted to have a nice evening together," she continued mumbling.

Paul just grinned at her. "Well, I'm sorry, sweetheart, unfortunately, nothing will come of that." And before the woman knew what was happening to her, Paul pulled her into a dark alley and drained her dry. 'Marko, where are you now?' He asked when he was done. 'I'll meet you. I'll just take the other way', he told his buddy after Marko had told him that he was on the way to the workshop with Christina.

Paul knew where Christina lived, and so he could imagine which way Marko would take. There was a short path through a forest area. Marko could use the small path with his motorcycle, but a car could not drive there. So if Marko made it there, he would be rid of his pursuer, and Paul would take care of the man. Paul was annoyed with himself. He was so busy watching Christina last weekend that he had not paid any attention to the two men. That was the only reason he had not recognized the two.

The tall blond vampire had reached his bike in the meantime and brought the engine to life. He did not hear a word from David or Dwayne, it was as if the two were shielding their thoughts. Paul realized why these brothers did that. If Marko did not know what they were planning, he could not reveal anything. Not that Marko would ever reveal his family to any hunters, but the Lost Boys had seen what these two guys were capable of. Against these two men were Edgar and Alan Frog really nice guys!

Paul really hoped the hunter would not catch up to Marko! Marko was much stronger and faster than both hunters together, but they had weapons that could disable any vampire. Shit, Paul was seriously worried, which did not happen very often. He searched in thought for any sign of Marko, but did not hear him!

Paul accelerated his motorcycle. He needed to get to Marko and Christina. Marco passed Christina's house some minutes later. First, the young woman did not react, but then she struck Marko on the back to attract attention. "Hey, stop," she called out to drown the engine. "Damn Marko, you have to turn around!"

Of course, Marko did not react, he kept racing. Christina's punches on the back of the vampire were getting harder and she did not stop screaming at him. "Damn, girl, stop that!", Marko yelled back annoyed. But of course, Christina went on screaming at the vampire, she was terrified because Marko suddenly behaved so strangely. She just wanted to go home, but Marko did not stop!

Christina started to slide on the seat. She thought seriously about dropping off the back of the bike but rejected the thought. She began again to beat Marko on the back. "Damn, Marko, finally stop, I want to get off," she yelled at him and fidgeted in the seat.

Marko then took his hand off the clutch and tried to reach for Christina's hand. He slowed down a bit and watched as Ted's car came closer and closer. Marko skidded and lost control of the bike. He realized his mistake too late, the rear wheel slipped and the machine slid a little, then the bike fell over. That was not a big problem for Marko. When he realized that he would not be able to stabilize the bike again, he simply let go of the gas tap and rose a little bit over his motorcycle in the air.

He watched with a fury that Christina dropped from the backseat while the motorbike crashed into a tree with the engine running. The guardian angel of the young woman was obviously working overtime because even though Christina was not wearing a helmet, she was only suffering from abrasions on her arms and legs. She lay on the floor for a moment, then stood up disoriented.

Marko stood next to his now-rotted motorcycle, Ted had stopped about a hundred meters further watching the show. He let the engine of his Audi run. Marko turned his back on Christina and looked at his beloved bike. He was so angry that his face was now showing his true nature. Christina slowly turned around to face Marko. Every section of her body full of pain.

She was so shocked by the crash that tears ran down her face. She had not noticed Ted had pursued her and Marko. But now Ted played with the gas of his car and Christina looked at him confused.

Marko struggled to regain his human face but failed. He turned and looked hatefully at the young woman. She noticed the change in Marko's face not at all, as her gaze was focused on the Audi. And then suddenly everything happened so fast that neither Marko nor Christina could react in any way.

Christina had finally realized that something was wrong with Marko's face. She screamed and backed away from him. The worst of it was that the trauma of the incident in the forest some time ago came back. Dwayne had attacked her in the forest to kill her!

"I knew you were not going to cause a lot of trouble," Marko spat at her. "You are as stupid as your mother!" Marko had no time to insult her more. Ted had given full throttle and pinched the vampire between a tree and the Audi. Marko gave a short shout and watched as Ted got out of the car, growling. Christina also watched Ted.

At first, she thought about running over to him, hoping for help from the man, but then she noticed the awful-looking weapon he held in his hand and the hateful look he gave her. Christina just wanted to get away, she turned and ran. However, she did not get far. She stumbled over a towering tree root and fell to the ground.

Marko shook his head and laughed briefly. That was so clear, Star's daughter wasn't even able to run away. The vampire tried angrily to free himself from his situation. Under normal circumstances, that would be absolutely no problem and he would just push away the heavy Audi. But Marko's foot was stuck on some car part and he had to release it first.

Ted immediately recognized Marko's predicament and grinned. He could now take care of the woman first. His weapon, reminiscent of a crossbow, was loaded and he could kill Christina immediately. But then he had a better idea, he would take her with him and do some tests on her. He would prove to William that this woman was more vampire than human! Of course, it was clear that this woman would not survive the tests, no matter what the outcome would be.

Ted glanced over at Marko, who had not managed to free his foot. "Well, bloodsucker, shit happens," Ted said mischievously, then he walked over to Christina, who was trying to get up off the floor. The man hit his weapon with force on Christina's head and the young woman fainted immediately. Ted looked down at her with a grin, then turned to Marko.

"Do you have a problem, bloodsucker?" He asked, laughing at Marko. "Wait until I've freed myself," hissed Marko. "Then we'll see who really has a problem here!"

"Why should I do something stupid, you can say goodbye to the world," Ted said dryly, then raised his weapon and shot one of his arrows at Marko. The vampire growled at Ted. As the holy water and garlic mixture spread into Marko's body, the vampire screamed, then everything around him went pitch black.

When Paul arrived there a few minutes later, all he found was Marko's demolished motorcycle and discovered Christina's handbag lying in front of a tree, like some of the young woman's blood. Paul, like the two other vampires, had naturally felt Marko's pain as the holy water was shot in his body.

David had not hesitated a minute, he had to act. That meant Laddie had to decide what he wanted now. The vampires needed his help and now it was Laddie's time to show his loyalty. He was the trump card of the vampires, because of him the hunters certainly did not know.

Paul was on his own and was not sure what he should do. He tried to somehow reach Marko's thoughts again, but he received no answer. He also could not find David and Dwayne in his thoughts. "Damn," Paul screamed angrily into the forest and then decided to drive to the workshop first. He hoped to meet his brothers there. Paul picked up Christina's bag from the floor then sat on his bike and started racing home.

While Marko and Christina got into big trouble with Tedrick, the alarm clock was ringing in another state in the home of Michael Emerson. The day had just begun and it was still dark outside. Michael struggled out of bed and went tiredly into the kitchen, where he first got worked on the coffee machine.

Actually, he could have slept for a few more hours, but since he threw Christina out, Michael was forced to change some things in his daily routine. He downed his coffee after showering and getting dressed, then gathered the ingredients for his children's lunch and laid them on the kitchen table.

Michael sat down with a knife and various small bowls at the table and began to peel and cut the fresh vegetables. Michael's mother had advised him a few weeks during a phone call to get the meals for Robin and Denise ready so that the two only had to warm up their food after school.

Michael did not feel like doing such work, but he still had to admit that it had worked well. Michael wondered how Christina could do that, apart from her work in kindergarten, she had organized everything so perfectly. The house was always spotless, and it hardly ever happened that Robin and Denise came home from school, and there was no healthy, fresh-made meal ready.

Christina had no long way to go to work and had come home every day during her lunch break, cooking for her younger siblings. The young woman had never broken the promise that she'd given her mother back then, helping Michael to take care of the two little ones.

Michael missed the energetic support of his stepdaughter. His own daily routine was just difficult since Christina no longer lived with them, as well as the relationship with his children!

Robin had not talked to Michael for weeks after Christina was thrown out of the house, and even now the boy spoke only the bare necessities to his father. He behaved naughty and rebellious.

Well, and Denise? Michael's cute little girl had become totally dismissive towards him. The little girl usually stayed with Stella, her school friend, and just came to dinner and went home to sleep. On the weekends, she often went to Stella very early, and when Michael got up he found only a note on the kitchen counter, so he would know where his daughter was. The little girl would have preferred to move in completely with her friend.

Michael was really alerted about the behavior of his children. Especially in Denis's case, he could have stopped it, but he feared that she would only hate him more, and if Michael was honest with himself, he could not even blame his children for this behavior.

He just should have known better, Christina was a mother substitute for Michael's children and a good one for that. The young woman had renounced her own life to take care of her little siblings, and now she was gone, and Michael was completely overwhelmed!

He was so lost in thought that he did not notice his unexpected guests until he heard a loud knock on the kitchen window. Michael startled and looked over at the window, surprised. Who came up with the stupid idea of knocking on people's windows at this time of day? Michael rolled his eyes annoyed when he recognized his younger brother Sam, who stood wildly gesturing at the window.

Sam had not bothered to leave his comfort zone in Arizona for many years to visit his brother. Sam and Lucy were not very happy about how Michael handled his stepdaughter. They didn't even know that Michael sometimes had abused Christina.

Sam, as well as his mother, felt that this child needed care and understanding. Sam also felt that Christina should be well watched to detect changes that would suggest vampirism. Sam was sure that Christina could not become a normal, young woman! Sam was sure that Christina was a half-vampire!

For Sam, it was only a matter of time before the monster would prevail in the girl, then you had to act in his opinion. Nevertheless, Sam didn't like his brother's behavior towards Christina. She had not chosen her parents after all.

Michael had never noticed any changes in Christina's behavior, and he had no interest in watching it. If he was honest, he was too busy giving his stepdaughter a hard time.

Michael sighed and put the knife on the table. He looked again at the window and saw that Sam's eyes were quite annoyed. Michael took the kitchen towel and cleaned his hands with it, then went to the front door and opened it.

"Hello Mom," he greeted first his mother and let her hug over him. He watched after Lucy, who squeezed past Michael and then disappeared into the kitchen, where she was satisfied that her eldest was finally able to prepare simple meals for his own children. When Lucy was out of sight, Michael turned to Sam, who had not said a word yet, which was completely atypical of him.

"What are you doing here at this time, why did not you tell me you wanted to come here?" Michael asked a bit snotty. Sam glared at his brother for a moment. "That's a nice welcome," he finally answered. "You look a lot shitty, you obviously have a lot of stress since Christina does not live with you anymore!"

Michael laughed briefly. "How do you know that?" He questioned. "The kids did not tell me you were on the phone." Sam shook his head gravely. "My information comes from another source," he told his brother. "May I finally come in? Then I'll tell you how I know that!"

Michael shrugged and stepped aside to let his brother into the house. The men heard Lucy busy with the pots in the kitchen. She was obviously completing Michael's work. Sam and Michael went to the living room, where Sam stopped in front of a family photo hanging on the wall. "Those were good times," he remarked, then sat down on the couch.

"Do you want a beer or should I get you a coffee?" Michael asked. Sam smiled. "Well, actually I do not drink alcohol in the early morning," he replied. "However, I have news for you that you will absolutely not like, and honestly, I could handle a little stronger!"

Michael looked at his brother in surprise, then went to the cupboard and got a bottle of whiskey and two glasses from the bar. He poured the drink into the glasses and handed Sam the whiskey. Then he sat down on the chair.

"All right, Sam, why did you bother coming to see me after all these years?" Sam looked at Michael with a serious expression. "Do you have any idea where Christina lives now?" Sam asked back.

Michael laughed briefly and shook his head. "As far as I know, she's been staying with a friend," he explained. "But to be honest, I'm not particularly interested." That was a lie, because somehow Michael asked himself, what had become of her. His children did not tell him anything anymore.

Sam grinned. "So you sounded a bit different when you talked to Mom some time ago," Sam chipped after. "You told her that everything is too much for you, and to be honest, when I look around here ... When did you last tidy up or clean up here?"

Michael was getting angry. What did Sam imagine? Everyone knew that he had quite a drug problem. That's why Sam was left by his wife years ago with the two children. He was hardly the right person to give a lecture to Michael!

"Did you come all this way from Arizona to talk to me about how I run my household?" Michael asked angrily. Sam laughed at his brother's question and shook his head. "Stay calm, Mike, I'm not your enemy, all right, I know you do not care much about Christina," Sam said, "but she's in great danger! Santa Carla is drawn? You remember, the 'murder capital of the world'?"

Michael looked at Sam irritated. "That can not be serious," he cried angrily. "What does she want there? Christina knows no human soul there!" Sam grinned. "Well, you sure remember Zoe Frog?! And listen to me, buddy, you and me, we will go there! Our nice little trip to this damn town starts tonight! I've already reserved a room for us in a hotel next to the boardwalk!"

"Oh no, I certainly will not do that," Michael yelled at his brother. Lucy had come out of the kitchen by now, listening in silence to their sons' conversation. Now she intervened. "Listen to me, young man," she said to Michael. "You threw your stepdaughter out of the house. It's your fault, she's gotten into trouble, so you'll want to get her out of there and make sure she gets back home!"

Michael looked at his mother uncomprehendingly, having sworn after the incent with the vampires, never again set foot in this cursed city, but it looked like he had no choice now! Sam was not thrilled with the idea either, but Christina was family! The young woman had no clue about the danger she was in.

Edgar had told Sam some news he didn't even dare to tell Michael right now. That had to wait until they finally arrived in Santa Carla! Sam wasn't looking forward to it. Ande The two brothers were on their own this time. Edgar had to save his own brother!


	15. Captured 2

Little note: I'm happy to be able to post the next chapter. Just take it as a little Christmas present!! Feel free to tell me what you think about it, and enjoy it!! I wish you and your family wonderful Christmas days!!

It was early in the morning when Paul reached the workshop, but there was still no sign of the sun. He hoped to find David, Dwayne, and Laddie in the common room. There was still some time before the vampires had to retire to sleep.

Paul had repeatedly tried to penetrate David and Dwayne's mind to call them while driving, but the two of them had still put a protective shield over it and Paul received no response. Paul dismounted from his motorcycle and paused beside his machine, lost in thought.

The tall, blonde vampire feared that his sire might be driven by anger again, as it had been after Edgar Frog had seriously injured Marko many years ago. David had led Dwayne and Paul on an act of vengeance that night into Michael's grandfather's house, completely haphazard.

Years had passed before all four vampires recovered from the consequences of this thoughtlessness after this event. The only positive effect of that night was that Max was wiped out, irretrievably!

The Frog brothers knew exactly what they were doing, but they obviously didn't know one very important thing! If you really wanted to destroy a vampire, you had to burn its remains or leave them in direct sunlight. Paul was grateful that it hadn't come to it.

Despite the stupid circumstances, he had to grin when he imagined that Edgar or Alan might one day run into him or his brothers. Paul quickly got serious as he thought about how unpredictable David could be when he was angry. Paul did not like to think back to the time when he came back from his grave. But in that bad situation, he remembered it. Paul only knew the facts of his own resurrection. How his brothers had returned was only known from stories by David and Dwayne.

What struggled out of the grave in nineteen ninety-five was hardly to recognize as Paul. His wild, blond hair had fallen out, except for a few tufts here and there. Paul's skin had reformed, but it was still pink and thin, like paper. Paul couldn't see anything since his eyelids were still closed. His brothers wondered if his eyes would regenerate completely or if he would remain blind.

Besides that fact, Paul couldn't articulate and his thoughts were confused. It was obvious that it was actually too early for Paul to return to his family, nevertheless, something had awakened him prematurely, but his brothers were just glad that Paul, despite his poor condition, had found his way back home!

It was only six months later that Paul was his old self again. During this time, Paul would only be fed up with David's blood. David had to feed for two during these months. The vampires knew that his sire's blood was the best way to get Paul's system working again. David, Dwayne, and Marko finally wanted their always cheerful friend back.

That night back then, David and Dwayne felt the terrible agony Paul suffered when he was pushed into the tub filled with holy water. Losing him after Mako was injured broke the two vampires' hearts. That was probably one of the reasons why these stupid children had a chance to defeat the vampires on that fateful night.

At that time Paul had only left his cover to protect Star and Laddie. Had he not done so, the night would have been different. But that's how Paul was, completely selfless when it came to his extraordinary family. Paul would sacrifice his life at any time to save a member of the pack.

He knew then that Star had betrayed them, but she was still one of them, and David wanted his woman and especially little Laddie back. At that time Paul was not yet ready to give up his sister. He just hadn't counted on his willingness to help put him out of action for so long.

Paul knew exactly what he and his brothers were haughty at the time and thought they were untouchable. The vampires had simply underestimated these stupid children and paid for being that stupid.

David was the oldest and strongest of the four Lost Boys. He mastered the manipulation of people's thoughts almost perfectly and was happy to use this gift to entertain his brothers. He had been impaled on antlers after the fight against Michael and had two holes in his chest. All you could see of it today was a color deviation of the skin. David was very lucky because his heart was not hit.

David had felt that Max, his sire passed and was grateful to finally be rid of him. David had fallen into a twilight state at the time and had noticed that Michael and his grandfather had freed his body from the antlers. They did not, however, free the vampire from the pain that David's injury brought, but at least the healing process started immediately.

David had also noticed that his damaged body was wrapped in an old bed sheet and carelessly thrown into a hole in the earth behind the house. David's scars were deep, his pride was hurt and he had lost everything that was important to him. The worst thing for him was the fact that only he was to blame for his family's demise.

He had allowed himself to be manipulated by Max and had finally agreed to integrate Michael into his pack. His brothers didn't want that, but he had convinced them that it was a good idea, only for fear that Max would destroy David and his brothers, who were of David's blood.

Back then, David and his brothers had done everything to deter Michael. The vampires had succeeded in doing this, but they hadn't expected the whole story to come to an end like this.

In fact, David could have risen much earlier, but he didn't want to. He preferred to rest in the earth for a full year to recover. There were times when David woke up. He could then consciously perceive the world above him.

For this reason, David knew that Star was regularly crying at his grave and that Paul and Dwayne were in graves next to him. He heard Star talk to him and entrust her with her sorrows, but he didn't want to know what she had to say. David was unwilling to forgive her betrayal of him and his brothers.

Once when Star went to his grave again, he heard an infant crying and he heard a name, Christina. David didn't bother about it and immediately forgot about it. After this visit to David's grave, the young woman never came back, she had left Santa Carla with Michael and Christina.

When David was finally ready to leave his grave, he immediately made his way to the sunken hotel. He assumed that everything had been looted and destroyed by Michael and the others. He was worried about Marko and worried that some strange people might have used his home for their parties.

When he entered the cave, however, he was relieved to find that everything was exactly the same as he had left with Paul and Dwayne a year ago. David also found Marko exactly where he fell from his sleeping place a year earlier after Edgar had pounded the stake in his chest.

David was happy again that this asshole had missed Marko's heart. Even so, Marko had lost almost all of his blood. His cheeks were sunken and his skin had turned gray. Back then, David had carefully lifted Marko off the floor and hid him in one of the rooms in the back of the cave.

He regularly brought victims for Marko into the cave, mostly homeless people that nobody would miss. David didn't want to be noticed. Everyone thought he was dead and David wanted it to stay that way.

Marko was unable to drink on his own and David had no choice but to force the blood into Marko's throat. Marko blossomed a little more every day and finally, David started to wake up Marko. He knew he had to be careful so that nothing went wrong.

It had already happened that resurrected vampires had lost their minds and got completely out of control. There had been no other option but to destroy them. David didn't want to risk that at all. David knew what to do, just be careful!

Paul considered that Dwayne had returned three years after Marko was back. You could see nothing of the traumatic injuries the dark-haired vampire had suffered.

Dwayne insisted, however, that the injured arm that was torn off in the explosion when the arrow in Dwayne's chest bored into the music system didn't work as well as the other.

He had pain in the wrist now and then. He also suffered from memory problems. He couldn't remember what happened in Michael's grandfather's house. David kept telling Dwayne what had happened back then.

At first, Dwayne always forgot where he put his things. He often looked for his beloved books, jacket, and motorcycle key. Finally, Dwayne got used to putting his things in certain places, which made his life a lot easier.

Dwayne was also the one who meticulously sorted the tools into the red toolbox in the cave so that he didn't have to constantly search for everything. Dwayne liked to retreat there when he wanted to be alone. He preferred to work on the Lost Boys' bikes undisturbed instead of using the workshop when everyone was at home.

He gladly left the workshop to David, who fixed all sorts of vehicles there for the mayor and his people. It was part of the deal between David and the head of the town. David hated it, but he saw that there had to be some rules. This was the only way that the pack could stay in the city they loved. This work also brought good money.

Paul knew that he should have checked to see if his brothers were at home, but he still lit another cigarette before entering the workshop. He sighed and really hoped that the events of nineteen eighty-seven would not happen again.

Paul threw the cigarette, which he hadn't smoked completely, into the metal barrel next to the entrance. He then crossed the workshop and opened the steel door hidden by a shelf to enter the private rooms of the vampires.

The shelf, in which spare parts for all kinds of vehicles were, stood on wheels and was attached to the door. To open the door, he had to enter a security code into his smartphone. Of course, only the vampires and since a few weeks Laddie knew the code. The door then remained open for two minutes before it automatically closed again.

Paul went into the common room where David, Dwayne, and Laddie were already waiting for him. "Damn it, Paul," David rant. "Where have you been all the time?"

Paul looked at his sire with raised eyebrows. "I called for you," he answered offended. "But obviously someone is hiding his thoughts from me!" Of course, everyone was totally tense and Paul and David looked at each other annoyed.

Then David looked down and went over to Paul. He put a hand on his shoulder and smiled painedly. Dwayne sat on the arm of a sofa and watched them silently. Laddie was lying on the sofa. He looked like he was completely intoxicated. Paul didn't even notice. He smiled back and sat on a chair. He freed himself from Christina's bag and threw it over to David. He caught the bag with one hand. "What am I supposed to do with it?" He asked.

"Christina's bag and Marko's demolished motorcycle is all I've found," Paul said angrily. "We'll find Marko and Christina," replied David, sounding very sure. Then David looked over at Laddie. Paul followed his gaze and finally noticed Laddie's condition.

He looked at Dwayne questioningly. He didn't look too pleased and was about to say something, but David got there first. "Don't you want to welcome our newest family member, Paul?", he asked.

Paul shook his head, frowning. "You can't be serious," Paul said. "In this shitty situation, are you making him one of us? You must have lost your mind! It's totally risky!"

David laughed once. "The timing couldn't be better," he replied confidently. "The two assholes obviously know about us, but they have no idea about Laddie! Laddie also knows Christina's friend, and she's with one of the two guys!"

Paul grimaced without understanding. "You want to confront a newborn vampire with these guys? You can't seriously consider that!" The tall, blonde vampire looked at Dwayne for help.

He didn't seem to like the idea very much either, because Dwayne had sired Laddie, but he just looked at the floor in silence. David was the boss and Dwayne trusted him. When it came to it, David's word was law and for usual David knew what he was doing!

David sighed. "Paul, I'm not going to confront Laddie with them," he said. "But as we all know, he has known this Zoe for a long time. She trusts him. She will ask him to come into her house, and then she renders powerless towards us. She doesn't know that Laddie is a vampire, and these guys know that neither!"

Paul looked thoughtfully from David to Dwayne. "But he doesn't go there alone?" He asked. Dwayne shook his head. "No, we're all going," he answered firmly. "These guys have Marko and Christina, we'll take something from them too! Laddie will help us with that!"

David smiled. "And we won't even have any problems because of that," he said. "They mainly hunt werewolves. If we take out these useless guys, the mayor is in our debt. This way we protect not only our family but also the pack of wolves! We would have the opportunity to significantly improve our situation in this city! "

Paul nodded, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. David went to him and put his hand on Paul's cheek. "Don't worry, Paul. You are my brothers, my children. What happened back then will not happen again. This time we will not be guided by our anger," David promised. "This time we have a plan! I can't lose you again!"

It was time for the vampires to retreat to their chamber. Dwayne helped Laddie to his feet. "Come on boy," he said. "You can't stay here, we all sleep together as a pack. You have to get used to sleeping like a real vampire!"

Laddie was still grinning, intoxicated, then spotted Paul and stumbled toward him. Paul started to laugh. "Slowly my friend," he said. "Welcome, now you're finally one of us! Took you long enough!"

"Wasn't that easy," Laddie slurred. "But with the help of the two, I was able to get it done!" In the chamber, Dwayne helped his fledgling take off his shoes and socks. Paul showed Laddie that he just needed to hover to the iron bar that was attached to two walls. "Just say in your mind that you want to rise there," Paul smiled. "Then the rest will happen on its own!" A few minutes later, the four vampires were hanging upside down on the iron bar, as it should be for a real vampire. Until the sun went down again, they were dead to the world!

Before the vampires woke up, Michael and Sam had made half of their way to Santa Carla. Lucy would take care of Robin and Denise while Michael was away. Michael was still convinced that going to Santa Carla was absolutely not a good idea. This trip brought back all the memories he had suppressed for many years.

Nobody knew what was actually going on in the man. Like the rest of his family, Michael was traumatized after the events with the vampires. However, he felt guilty. He had liked the Lost Boys no matter what they were.

He was so horrified at the time about the violent behavior that Edgar and Alan had shown. Michael wondered which hole the two of them had crawled from, they were not quite clear in the head.

Michael and Sam made faster progress than Christina a few months earlier. They took turns driving and didn't need to take as many breaks. Sam was driving and was about to head for a motorway station. "We have to fill up here," he told his brother. "Would you like some coffee too?"

Michael had slept. He looked over at his brother and nodded. "Let's go in there," he replied. "I could use some food too!" Sam nodded and got out of the car. After filling the tank, he drove his SUV into the parking lot of the small restaurant and went in with Michael.

The two sat silently opposite each other for a few minutes after the waitress brought them the food and drink that Sam and Michael had previously ordered and paid for at the counter.

"You know we would have been faster if we would have taken a flight?", Nagged Michael. "We still have a few kilometers to go and will lose valuable time if the situation is as dangerous for Christina as you want me to believe!"

Sam looked offended at his brother. "I'm not the one who put the girl in this situation," he finally replied reproachfully. "It is not so easy to get a suitable flight quickly, so I preferred to go by car!"

Michael looked angry. "I had no idea that she was moving to this cursed city," he justified, brusquely. "I assumed that she would stay with this friend until she found her own apartment. After all, she has obligations."

Sam looked at his brother with his eyebrows raised. "Michael, I haven't understood you for a long time," replied Sam. "What happened to my sensitive brother who always believed in fairness?"

"How am I supposed to understand that?" Michael asked in astonishment. "I'm still the same man I used to be!" Sam gave a short laugh. "No, my friend, you haven't been this man in a long time," Sam explained. Sam glanced out of the window for a moment before continuing. "To be honest, you turned yourself into a very unjust asshole! Christina was always trying to please you, she practically brought up your children! And she did a damn good job! But instead of being grateful for her help you gave her a hard time! Michael, you were the only father she ever had! Jesus, why don't you see that I'm right? "

Michael glared at his brother. "You have no idea," he moaned. "When Star was pregnant with her at the time, I really hoped that she was my child! I made up my mind to love this child, even though I may not be the father! The midwife put her into my arms after birth. I looked at her and she smiled up at me, I had the feeling that David was smiling at me. I was so disappointed and the last feelings I still had for my wife died. Christina changed everything!"

Sam looked at his brother thoughtfully. "Michael, your stepdaughter is just as much a victim as we were back then," he said with a smile. "She didn't choose that, and she didn't do anything wrong."

Michael shook his head. "You don't understand me! I don't understand myself," he justified. "David offered me his friendship back then. I wanted his appreciation. He asked me for this friendship even when he had lost everything. I thought I would do the right thing if I killed him. But it wasn't right! My love for Star died with David, and everything that held us together afterward was this shared experience! Why don't you all see that we were the monsters back then?"

Michael looked out the window in silence for a few minutes. "I've been telling myself over the years that there was only one way, but I lied to myself! After Star's death, my mistake became clear to me. It was never Christina I hated, I hate myself! I hate myself for killing David and I hate for helping to kill his brothers! Everything I inflicted on Christina was actually because I hated me all the years! David was a good friend and I destroyed him because he was different!"

Sam was completely horrified and jumped out of his chair after realizing what his brother had just confessed to him and threw his cutlery on the plate. "You're not ticking cleanly," he roared, and he didn't care that the other guests were staring at him.

"How dare you even consider being one of them? But well, then I'm sure you'll be happy if I tell you that your friends are back! I don't know how they did it, but they're not dead!" After these words, Sam rushed out of the restaurant, he urgently needed fresh air!

Christina opened her eyes many miles from the restaurant where Sam and Michael were sitting. She had a terrible headache and a crust had formed over the laceration Ted had done to her with his gun. Christina felt terrible but still tried to sit up. When she finally succeeded, she threw up. She shouldn't have been drinking so much!

It was a while before she could remember the events of the night and she looked around in confusion. She had no idea where she was. The room was dark and she felt something hard beneath her. When she was finally able to sit up, she found that she had been lying on a dusty steel cot.

Terrified, trying to see something. There didn't seem to be any windows in the room, but after a while, her eyes got used to the darkness and she could see dim shapes of the cold room.

Then she heard someone moan and heard something that sounded like the clink of heavy chains. "Hello," she called uncertainly. The other person groaned again. "Hello, who's there?", she asked aloud.

The chains clinked again. The moan rang again. "Damn it," she heard a male voice swear. "Christina," the voice whispered. "It's me, Marko." Christina remembered the change she saw on Marko's face after the crash with his motorcycle.

Christina panicked. She had to get out of there. Marko had been chained to a wall with chains attached to the wall. His body still hurt from the holy water that Ted had shot into his body. But he was still much better than a few hours ago.

The amount of holy water was nowhere near enough to seriously injure the vampire, but Marko was still weak. He saw that Christina was afraid of him, which was logical in his eyes. Still, he had to convince her that the only way to escape this situation was to work together!

Marko could imagine where Ted had taken him and Christina. As much as he hated this man, he could only congratulate him on choosing the prison he was in. That bastard seemed to know exactly what he was doing!

Marko was right in his guess. After he put the young woman and the vampire out of action, Ted had carelessly put them in the trunk of his car. Ted was annoyed that he had ruined his best suit in doing this!

He had then pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and tried to reach William, but he was obviously too busy to answer his phone! As a result, Ted had been driving aimlessly through the city with his prisoners in the trunk for half an hour.

Then he remembered that the old slaughterhouse on the outskirts had been empty for a few years. Tedrick didn't think long. He had the necessary tools with him to get into the building. With a grin, he had decided that this was an appropriate place for the vampire and his female company.

There he could experiment with William on the prisoners. The two could scream the soul out of their bodies, nobody would hear them! He brought Christina inside first. He put her down on a steel table and didn't bother to tie her up in any way. He would easily cope with this little person.

He used his flashlight to light the walls and smiled when he spotted the heavy chains hanging from the wall. "Bingo," he said aloud. "Just the right thing for the bloodsucker!"

He brought Marko into the room and wrapped the chains around his wrists and ankles. Fortunately, the key was in the rusty lock on the heavy steel door. Ted locked the door and took the key with him, then he went back to the car and tried to reach Bill again. After a few minutes he gave up and drove home, eventually, Bill would show up there!


	16. Hope

Little note: I'm happy to be able to post the next chapter. Feel free to tell me what you think about it, and enjoy it!

Michael was standing stunned by the table where he had just sat with his brother. He watched Sam go, and he didn't care that everyone in the restaurant was staring at him.

What had Sam just said? Michael couldn't believe it. That was absolutely impossible! Michael had seen with his own eyes that the vampires were destroyed! He had seen with his own eyes what was left of Paul and Dwayne! Paul was nothing more than a skeleton, and you could only identify the tall, blonde vampire by his clothes.

Dwayne was still recognizable, but his head was torn off in the explosion and one of his hands was detached from his arm. Back then Michael and his grandfather had freed David's body from the antlers; David looked so innocent and peaceful at the moment of his final death, almost as if he was relieved to be finally allowed to leave this world.

Back then Michael had felt nothing but pity for the leader of the Lost Boys. How had David become what he was?

Later that night Michael and his grandfather dug three graves behind the house. There, David, Dwayne, and Paul should get their final resting place. After the graves were done, the two went back to the almost destroyed house and wrapped the remains of the vampires in old sheets that Lucy had picked out in the meantime.

Micheal was certain he would never be able to forget the sight of the three vampires he had sought to friendship as long as he lived. Michael couldn't classify his feelings at the time.

Was he relieved that the whole haunt was over now? Did he feel hate because David wanted to drag him into this darkness? Maybe it was grief because he had lost his new friend, or it annoyed him that he had thrown away the offer of eternal youth. After all, it was a very tempting offer! Didn't people generally strive to stay young forever?

Michael simply didn't know what he was feeling at the time, but it was as if an important part of him was lost forever, gone with the vampires! Michael was definitely horrified at how undignified he and his grandfather had dragged the remains of the vampires into their graves.

He often wondered if every deceased person deserved at least a few nice words at the end of his life, no matter what had become of him. After all, the Lost Boys were young, mortal men once!

Michael was only twenty years old at the time and was no longer a child. He wasn't stupid and realized that his grandfather knew more about the vampires than he wanted to admit. The old man refused to talk about it, taking his knowledge of the dark side of Santa Carla into the grave.

The old man, however, had sent Edgar and Alan home after the vampires had been destroyed, he didn't use very kind words. It was clear to see that he absolutely disliked them. Only then did the old man immediately had pulled off David's body from the antlers with Michael's help.

That night, of course, Sam was not at all enthusiastic about his grandfather's behavior. After all, Edgar and Alan were the only friends he had had in Santa Carla. Ultimately, however, he didn't say much to defend them, since he was just happy that his brother was saved.

After Max bit the grass that night and Michael, Star and Laddie were finally free, Michael quickly noticed that his feelings for Star had changed. He was nowhere near as drawn to her as before. At the time, however, he could not explain this change.

Actually, Michael expected that his girlfriend, who just stayed with them, should be very happy that she was now free of David and the others, and that she was, initially. However, the young woman's feeling of happiness did not last very long.

It hadn't been a week since she started crying in sleep and calling for David, and while she was awake, she talked a lot about the vampire. She never said it directly, but from the choice of words Michael could tell how much she missed him, and to be honest, Michael missed that sarcastic asshole too!

The sarcasm was only a small part that made David's character. The leader of the Lost Boys had a lot of knowledge, humor, and serenity. That must have been because he was probably much older than he actually looked. He must have experienced a lot in all the time he had lived, as a human being, and then as a vampire.

After the massacre of the Surf Nazis all those years ago, David had visited Michael at home. Michael could never explain why David had asked for this conversation, but for some reason, it was important to the vampire.

After Michael had let him into his room, which required real persuasion from David, the two had been talking for a while. He had admitted to Michael that the vampires sometimes enjoyed something like this and that a good hunt was always exciting, but usually, their food intake was much less noticeable.

They weren't mindless killing machines that killed everything that came their way. They couldn't afford it, and usually, they didn't want to. But human blood was a necessity for the vampires, elixir of life. Without it, the creatures of the night would become very weak!

Nevertheless, David repeated again and again that the Lost Boys rarely allowed themselves the pleasure of a "real" hunt because it was simply too dangerous for them.

Michael just didn't understand at the time why there could be something that would be dangerous for a vampire. Because, strictly speaking, these creatures still stood above humans on the food chain.

It was only from Edgar and Alan that Michael learned that vampires were vulnerable during the day because they fell into a death-like sleep and could not use their powers as at night.

During the conversation with David, Michael mentioned that he had noticed the posters of the missing people and he assumed that David and his men were responsible for them.

David then laughed at him and explained that few of these people were accounted for by the Lost Boys. He claimed that by wiping out these people, the vampires had done a great service to humanity. Like everyone else, the vampires just wanted to live.

David had also explained to Michael how he had met Star and that he had finally developed feelings for her. Yes, vampires felt something, only a few of them were really without feelings. Most vampires had never forgotten that they once had been human themselves!

Back then, David could have imagined sharing his eternal life with this young woman. What value should an eternal life have if you were doomed to spend it alone?

At first, things went pretty well between David and Star, they enjoyed the time together, but at some point, the vampire decided that it was time to tell Star the truth, she was slowly becoming suspicious at the time. David was no fool, so he first gave the young woman Max blood mixed with wine to drink.

After Star knew the truth, she hated David, at least that was what the vampire believed. Michael knew better after the many years he had spent with Star, of course.

Star didn't want this dark life that David and his brothers enjoyed so much. With Michael's help, she had managed to escape the darkness. But after the vampires were destroyed, she quickly realized how much she was missing them; even Marko and Dwayne, who mostly ignored the young woman. During the time she spent with them in the sunken hotel, she had had liberties that her parents had denied her, even though David was quite possessive. She had met cohesion that she had never seen before.

Although Dwayne and Marko ignored her after realizing that the young woman refused to really become one of them, they protected her. If anybody got too close to Star and David wasn't around, Dwayne and Marko were right there.

Star had always felt that Marko had disagreed with her presence in the cave from the start, and she was absolutely right. When David decided that Star would stay with them, he devoted a large part of his attention to her. Before he had spent much more time with Marko. Marko simply got jealous and knew from the start that Star had no interest in this lifestyle. Marko always wondered how David could be so blind! And yet Star could always rely on the vampire's protective instinct, after all, she was part of the family!

Michael hated that his girlfriend could not stop talking about her time with the Lost Boys. He quickly realized that it was in no way love that connected him and Star, it was just the extraordinary experience together with the vampires!

Michael and Star still remained a couple and even got married shortly after Christina's birth, but it was more of a community than anything else. When Star noticed then that she was pregnant, she was not very pleased, just like Michael and his family.

Star initially lied to Michael and claimed that she had never slept with David. It took a few weeks before she took courage and confessed the truth to Michael. Michael had never mentioned it to Star and never told her about David's visit to him, but by talking to the vampire, he knew from the start that Star was not honest with him.

Michael was aware that Star maybe would give birth to David's kid, but he would stay with her after she had decided, that she would raise the kid. The young man felt obliged to his girlfriend because either he was the father of the child himself or he had destroyed the father of the baby. Either way, Michael felt responsible for the life that grew up in Star!

Basically, Michael would only have had to deal with the calculated date of birth to recognize the truth, but he was simply not interested in it at the time! What would that help him? The child would be born soon and there was nothing to be done about it!

Star's pregnancy was difficult. She was happy to be able to go out in the sun again during the day without feeling tired and enjoyed spending time in the garden, but with each month as her pregnancy progressed, it became more problematic because the child, Christina, seemed to sleep all day and was very active at night. Star was unable to sleep and was very irritable and slept almost every day, during the night she was haunting the house. Her strange habits naturally had an impact on the entire household.

Stars' eating habits during this time were also not quite normal. She insisted on eating her meat, and she ate a lot of it, more or less raw! Her doctor had advised her against this because raw meat was not good for the child, but Star ignored the doctor's advice.

Christina probably didn't feel like waiting until the expected date of birth, no, she wanted to get out of her mother's womb almost two months earlier, and without warning. There was no time to go to the hospital, Christina was born at home.

Still, what slipped out of Star was a fully developed, healthy girl, but she was really tiny. After the midwife, whom grandfather had summoned, gave the first assessment, Christina was wrapped in a blanket and put in Michael's arms.

Her little head was full of hair sticking out in all directions, she had the exact same hair color as David. Her eyes were pale blue, just like his. She smiled up at Michael and he felt David was smiling at him. Although Michael was well aware that he would eventually raise David's child, it was too much for him at the moment, he felt cheated somehow.

In the meantime, the whole family was gathered in the room and everyone congratulated the young mother. Michael then shoved the child into the hand of the person standing next to him. It was his grandfather.

He took Christina gently and looked at his grandson reproachfully. Michael also noticed how his grandfather looked at the newborn girl and heard his words. "Well, none of us is left with a choice about our parents, all of us had to take what we got."

Michael could still hear Sam calling him, but by then he had already closed the door of the room and had walked halfway down the stairs. Michael sighed as he thought back to Christina's birth, standing by the table for almost ten minutes.

The other people in the restaurant were already busy with their own affairs. Michael left the restaurant without a word to follow Sam. He was totally agitated.

His brother looked at Michael reproachfully when they were finally back in the SUV. "Sam," Michael started, but Sam held up his hands defensively. "I don't want to talk about it now," he moaned. "But maybe you should know one thing because your fang friends are not the ones who are threatening Christina's life. There are hunters in town. William and Tedrick, we met once when they still were kids. Edgar told me that they were both are completely insane. They want to get Christina out of the way."

Michael opened his mouth again to say something, but Sam didn't allow it. "No, Mike, not now! Or you can get out of here and see how you get on alone!" Then Sam started the car and pouted back onto the main road. If what Edgar Sam had said on the phone about Bill and Ted was true, Sam feared the worst for Christina!

The young woman was still sitting on the slaughtering block looking in the direction from which she had heard Marko's voice, she could literally feel the vampire staring at her.

"I have to get out of here," she murmured, getting carefully to her feet. Pain flashed through her entire body and she felt that her head was about to explode. Groaning, she clung to the block.

"We have to get out of here," she heard the vampire say, staring angrily in Marko's direction. "You only got me into this position," she shouted angrily at him. Marko laughed. "What are you talking about?", he asked. "Who played stand man on my motorcycle and caused this crap? Just a few meters further and we would have left the asshole behind! But no, Madame had to act like her mom couldn't have done better! I'll tell you the truth, Child, if you really think we are your biggest problem, I have to disappoint you! There are worse monsters like us in this city, and the funniest thing is that the worst of them are humans. Unfortunately, your friend got very close to one of them!"

It took Christina a while to register what Marko had just told her, then she noticed that the vampire had mentioned her mother again. Marko, like all vampires, could see perfectly in the dark. He grinned when he noticed how stupid Christina was looking.

This kid really seemed to have absolutely no idea. He wondered how much vampire was really in her, it couldn't be that her father's blood wouldn't affect her! How had the child managed to survive that long?

Christina looked down at her boots somewhat embarrassed, but the embarrassment quickly gave way to anger. She took a step in the direction she thought Marko was and groaned again because her head ached with every movement.

"What are you talking about my mother all the time?" She asked with desperation in her voice. "You didn't know her at all!" Marko laughed again. "Oh, baby," he finally answered. "I knew this woman better than I liked. I knew immediately that she meant nothing but trouble for us, but your Da ..., uh, David didn't want to listen to me!"

Christina listened, what was it that Marko just had not said? With a frown, she took another step towards him. Why did Marko know her mother? And what did David have to do with it? She just didn't understand what Marko was talking about!

Everything was too much to take right now for Christina, too many things had already happened that night! She had ignored her fear of the dark and was just going to her favorite club.

There she had met Laddie, who had obviously been in Santa Carla for a while and hadn't told her about it, Christina was very disappointed. Then she'd met the scary bikers and learned that just these men were Laddie's friends.

Christina had seen Paul again, who was part of this gang. Christina liked Paul very much, but he had simply passed her on to Marko to disappear with this rigged chick. That was the next disappointment.

Christina initially liked Marko, but not as much as she liked Paul. This man immediately seemed odd to her, well, now she knew why! On the way home, Marko and she crashed on his motorcycle and then Christina noticed that Ted had been following them in his car.

Christina witnessed that vampires actually exist, Marko was a vampire! Did that mean the others were vampires too? And what about Laddie? And anyway, what did these guys want from her?

She had remembered what had happened in the forest. Dwayne actually wanted to kill her, but then suddenly there was someone else who prevented it! At last, she realized that it was Paul who had protected her from Dwayne, it was his voice that she had heard that night!

And now she was locked up in a dark, cold room, with Marko, a vampire. And to top it all off, he had also revealed that her mother had something to do with these guys!

She remembered a conversation with Laddie that they had had when he was visiting her. He had said something that was related to all of this, but Christina was so exhausted and confused that she couldn't grasp it. She just knew it was important to her! How old were these guys? Actually, they looked younger than Christina herself!

Desperation spread again in the young woman, she just wanted to go home! She just wanted to get into her bed and pull the covers over her head and hide from the whole mess! How had she gotten into this trouble? She dropped to her knees and tears fell from her eyes.

Marko sighed. David's child was a disturbing factor in his eyes! She was somehow interesting too, but it still bothered, just like her mother did back then! On the other hand, he knew that she was not to blame for the tricky situation and he somehow felt sorry for her. After all, she hadn't chosen this situation. The circumstances of her life had plunged the unsuspecting young woman into this chaos.

Star and Michael should have better told her the whole truth about her father, then she would have been prepared. Christina sobbed loudly and put her hands over her face.

Then suddenly she stopped crying and jumped to her feet. "My bag is gone," she screamed with a horrified face. "I must have lost her when we crashed on your bike!"

Marko shook his head, rolled his eyes and sighed. "Is that really your biggest problem right now?", he asked annoyed. Christina looked blankly in Marko's direction. "Yes, no, yes, because, I mean ...", she stuttered and started to cry again. "Do you have a cigarette?" She asked sobbing and put her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt.

She winced, stopped crying again, and her eyes lit up when she felt the object in her pocket. Grinning, she pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and turned it on. In the chaos, she had simply forgotten that she never kept her phone in her purse.

The first thing she did was use the flashlight function and just pulled the light into Marko's face with a grin. He was blinded by it, that made him angry, his true nature was revealed. "Damn it, take that thing out of my face," he hissed.

But Christina didn't think about it at all since Marko was in chains, he couldn't harm her. She looked curiously at his changed face. Marko growled at her and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he had regained his human face.

Satisfied that she could finally see more, Christina illuminated the room and finally ran to the door. She pushed the handle down and found that the door was locked.

"Did you seriously believe that it was so easy to walk out of here?" Marko asked mockingly. Christina turned the light back on his face and he hissed again. "Damn it, leave the shit!" He shouted angrily.

Christina grinned and finally did the vampire the favor. She took the smartphone down and opened the list of contacts. "In my right jacket pocket," said Marko suddenly. Christina looked at him in confusion. "My cigarettes are in my right pocket," he said. "You wanted to have one. You could also light one on to me, unfortunately, I can't do it myself!"

Marko smiled very charming, he had a plan, the young woman only had to get close enough to him. He had been thinking about how to get her to close the distance to him all along.

However, Christina had her own plan and ignored Marko. She would call for help with her phone, she's been stuck here for far too long! However, she never got the idea to contact Donald, who was definitely still in the pool hall.

Christina called Zoe instead, but she had obviously turned off her phone. Christina sighed in frustration and pressed Laddie's number. On the second ring, someone answered her call. "Christina, where are you?", a voice that was definitely not Laddies asked.

Christina picked up the phone and looked at it in surprise. Marko had recognized the voice immediately, of course. "Christina, is Marko with you?", David asked impatiently.

He had sent Dwayne and Laddie on a mission and asked Laddie to leave his smartphone with David, just in case that Christina would call. Christina didn't respond and instead looked helplessly at Marko.

"David, we're in the old slaughterhouse," Marko said, watching Christina hesitantly approach. "It would be great if you could remove the blockage from your thoughts! I've been calling you for a while," Marko then complained.

Christina looked at Marko in astonishment. What was he talking about? And how did he know where they were trapped? She heard David swear because the old slaughterhouse belonged to the wolves' territory, then she ended the call. She didn't feel like talking to David.

She desperately needed a cigarette to get a clear thought and went to Marko step by step. Again and again, she hesitated because she didn't trust the vampire, even though she knew deep down that he wouldn't kill her, because Marko could have done that long ago. For some reason the vampires didn't want to kill her, except maybe Dwayne, that much was certain. Paul would have had the best opportunity to just make her disappear last weekend, but he hadn't one hair on her head. Christina just couldn't get the puzzle together and wondered again what these guys wanted from her.

Marko watched the young woman with the eyes of an arbor. 'Come on,' he thought. He was weakened and urgently needed some blood. In his condition, he could not simply tear the chains out of the wall to get free, nor manipulate Christina. A bit of Christina's lifeblood would change the situation for the vampire immediately. "Come on here," he whispered so impatiently that Christina couldn't hear it.

Christina actually went closer and closer to Marko, just a few more steps, and he would be able to finally get hold of her to take what he needed. "In my right jacket pocket," Marko said again to make her hurry up. He was hungry and was getting impatient. Just like Christina, he finally wanted to get out of this prison.

Christina was almost within Marko's reach when the two heard that a door slammed somewhere in the building. Christina and Marko heard footsteps, someone was approaching their prison. A key was put in the lock and turned, then the door was pushed open and crashed into the wall. Next, the light came on, it was very bright. Christina held her hands in front of her eyes because the light blinded her.

When she took her hands away again, she narrowed her eyes at the figure standing in the door frame. "Ted, why did you lock us up here?" She asked angrily and ran over to him.

Ted only looked at her with contempt and pushed her back into the room. She fell to the floor and shouted at him, "Are you losing it? What's this about?" Marko growled, but Ted just grinned confidently at him.

"I am pleased that my guests have recovered a little," he said with a slight smile and closed the door, but left the key in the lock from the outside. "Then the show can finally begin," he announced cheerfully.

Ted placed a tool case at a safe distance next to Marko on a steel table. Christina looked at him questioningly and then looked over at Marko. She got up from the floor and ran to the door, but Ted was faster and pulled her to a chair that was next to the table and pushed her into it.

"Please take a seat," he said, grinning. "Then I can prepare everything for an amusing night." Christina tried to get out of his grip, but couldn't. "I want to get out of here," she yelled at Ted, but he just laughed at her. "Well, little one, unfortunately, I can't let you go," he answered spitefully. "And apart from that, you definitely don't want to miss this!"

Christina got up from the chair, but then noticed Marko's warning look. He wanted to prevent Ted from tying her up at all costs. Tied up she would be useless. Marko secretly hoped that there was enough David in Christina and that she would take to his side. Christina didn't really know how to react and ended up just standing in front of the chair. Marko sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, Ted had taken a pair of pliers from his tool case and put them on the table sorted by size. He looked proudly at the selection. Marko watched disgustedly every move Ted made, but Ted only smirked at Marko.

"We want to test how resilient your fangs are," said Ted, pointing to Marko's mouth with an object in his hand. Ted held a stun gun in his hand that he wanted to use to stop Marko from reaching for him. Vampires were damn fast, Ted knew that he had to defend himself if he wanted to stand a chance against the bloodsucker.

He walked up to Marko and used his weapon in a flash. Marko roared and his face changed. He growled at Ted. Ted was not impressed by this and laughed. He had gotten what he wanted, Marko's face now showed what he was.

Marko's eye color had changed, the pupils were now framed in yellow with a blood-red ring. Ted could see the vampire's fangs, and the contours of his face had changed too; it was truly a terrible sight.

Ted dragged Christina over to Marko. "There, look at him closely," he shouted into her face. "That will become of you too! Do you want that?" Christina tried to pull away.

"You really lost it completely," she yelled at him. "I want to get out of here right now!" Ted laughed and shoved her back into the chair. "You're not going anywhere, girl," he said very calmly.

Then he went back to Marko with the stun gun and gave him another electric shock. "You'll regret that," growled Marko, but Ted just laughed at him and took one of the tongs off the table. "Well, bloodsucker, if you open your mouth voluntarily, it may not be so ugly," Ted said, dripping with sarcasm. "But as I know you, I have to help anyway. Guys like you destroyed my family and took a dear relative from me. You will pay for that now!"

Marko grinned. "You know that is not the truth," he defended himself snappily. "You know very well that it was not us, but those who howl at the full moon! And it is not our fault that part of your family is howling with them now!"

"Werewolves, vampires, I don't give a shit, you're all the same," Ted said. "I was a very happy kid once and you destroyed that happiness!" He approached Marko with a threatening pair of tongs and a stun gun.

Christina was totally shocked because she had just learned that werewolves were actually existing. Ted and Marko portrayed these creatures as living in the middle of them in this city, and Christina was frankly fed up. She had been locked up with a vampire by a man who must have been completely sick. Ted urgently needed therapy!

Christina watched Ted horrified that what he was going to do could not be serious. Ted stood in front of Marko, the two staring at each other with hatred. Then Ted looked over at Christina and grinned.

"She doesn't know, am I right ?!", he stated. "You didn't tell her?" Christina looked at Ted in confusion, then turned her questioningly to Marko, who rolled his eyes in annoyance and sighed.

"What didn't you tell me?" She asked. Ted laughed. "So I would finally tell her the truth if I were you," he advised Marko. "Or do you want to let her die stupid?"

Now Marko was the one who laughed. "She won't die," he replied stubbornly. Ted grinned and was about to give Marko another electric shock when his phone rang. "Well, it was about time," he said contentedly.

Christina noticed that Marko was pointing into a corner of the room and followed his gaze and saw a broken slat on the floor. Marko nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. Christina realized that she would only have a chance to escape this situation if she worked with the vampire. So she used Ted's carelessness and left her place. The man fumbled on his phone and ignored her.

Christina really had enough of him, he was completely crazy. The young woman picked up the crossbar and gathered all her courage. Marko nodded impatiently and Christina struck as hard as she could. She screamed and struck again, and again. Ted dropped the phone and crashed to the floor. Horrified about herself, Christina threw the bar into a corner.

Marko looked at her with raised eyebrows and whistled through his teeth. Apparently he had underestimated the girl, she had more courage in her bones than her mother.

Christina smiled in relief at Marko. "What now?" She asked. Marko now had a new plan, he didn't need to use Christina as a blood bank anymore, Ted was there now. "What a question," laughed the vampire. "See if you can find anything in the box to free me of it." he clinked his chains. "And if there is a hammer in the thing, keep it with you just in case the ape gets up again," he instructed, pointing his head at Ted.

While Christina was rummaging in the toolbox, Marko wondered why his brothers hadn't shown up, but on the other hand, of course, he knew that not much time had passed since talking to David on the phone.

"Hah," Christina suddenly said, pleased. "It doesn't get any better than that. She held up a key with a smile." I hope that's the fitting one, "she added. Marko had put on his most charming smile again.

"Come on, try whether it fits in the lock, " he asked. Christina became suspicious again and stopped abruptly. Marko became impatient. "Come on, go on," he begged. "He's way worse than me. You saw for yourself what he is capable of!"

Finally, Christina went to the vampire and with trembling hands, she put the key in the lock that held Marko's chains, it fit! Marko freed himself from the chains in no time.

He ran to Ted and bit his throat. Frozen, but somehow fascinated, Christina watched Marko drink. She was ashamed of not being disgusted, on the contrary, she got hungry.

Marko wanted to tear Ted to pieces but he was in the werewolf territory, so he fought his urge and only took as much as he actually needed. The guy was going to pay for what he had done, the vampire was sure. When he drank enough, he grabbed the frozen Christina by the hand and pulled her out of the room.

"What happened here?" suddenly asked a tall figure who came towards them in front of the room. "Shit," was all Marko said then he pushed Christina behind him.

Christina peeked out from behind Marko and recognized her boss, Donald. She left her cover and started to run into his arms, but Marko got a hold of her arm. "No, don't," he said.

Donald looked at Marko and Christina. "Christina? This is really a surprise! So she is the prodigy kid that David told me about?" He asked in astonishment. "Where's my nephew?"

Marko sighed and pointed into the room. "Is the idiot still alive? I really hope so. I want to teach him a lesson," Donald said sourly. " And you two better get out of here before the rest of us show up!"

Marko nodded and pulled Christina out of the building. He didn't bother to explain anything to her, he just took her in an iron grip and flew with her Sunken Hotel. Christina cried out once when Marko left the safe ground, but she was just too tired to fight it.

At the same moment that Ted was knocked down by Christina's blows, Zoe's doorbell rang. Bill had just left, surely he had forgotten something. So Zoe didn't think long and opened the door. The young woman was very surprised that it was not Bill, but Laddie, who was accompanied by a brunette man. Zoe had seen this man before, he was one of those ominous bikers.

She looked at the two men in astonishment. "Laddie, what are you doing here at this time? I was about to go to bed," she said. "Did something happen?" Laddie smiled a little tortured. He didn't like the idea that Zoe was now being drawn into the story. But she was the friend of one of the hunters who had Christina and Marko, and so she was good leverage, he had to agree with David and Dwayne. In addition, Christina's wellbeing meant a lot more to the newborn vampire, after all, she was part of the family, even if she didn't know that!

"I'm sorry," Laddie apologized. "It's about Christina, she's in serious trouble!" Zoe looked startled at Laddie and regretted neglecting her best friend in this way.

"What's going on?" She asked. Laddie looked at her seriously. "Can we come in briefly? Then we'll explain everything to you," asked Laddie. Zoe couldn't know what she really was doing by inviting vampires in. "Yeah sure, come on in," she replied, stepping aside to make room for the two.

Zoe closed the door and looked at the men curiously. "Well, I wanna know everything," she stated. Dwayne cleared his throat. "How well do you know your friend's buddy?", he asked.

Zoe looked astonished. "Well, he was at the club with us a few times," she explained. "But Bill has known him forever, he makes a very nice impression! Why do you want to know that?"

Laddie was about to answer, but his sire raised his hand, silencing him. "We suspect that guy kidnapped Christina," said Dwayne bluntly. He didn't think to waste time with small talk.

Zoe stood there, stunned. "How do you come up with such nonsense?" She asked. "Why should Ted do something stupid like this? Although he showed interest in Christina, he had to find out that she doesn't want to know anything about him. But that's no reason to kidnap her right away!"

Dwayne grinned. "I have known your friend and his buddy a little longer," he said. "Did your brothers introduce the men to you? They're friends.

"Zoe looked at the dark-haired vampire in confusion and then shook her head. "Bill never mentioned my brothers, I didn't know he knew them," Zoe admitted. "You see, we are worried about Christina," Dwayne explained. He wanted to sow distrust into Zoe, and obviously he had.

Zoe took her smartphone from the table and realized that Christina had called. She called back immediately, but Christina didn't answer the phone. Zoe put the phone down, she looked very worried.

Why had Bill just hid from her that he knew Edgar and Alan? Zoe had talked about her brothers so many times. Bill had been given a chance to tell her so many times. Zoe just didn't understand.

She turned around to face Laddie and Dwayne. "I get dressed, then we go to Bill's place and clarify that together," she offered. "It must be a misunderstanding." Dwayne and Laddie smiled at each other. 'Bingo,' said Dwayne in Laddie's thoughts. 'Exactly what we wanted.'

Zoe climbed onto Laddie's motorcycle a little later. "Have you ever sat on a bike?", he asked. "Okay, just go with me when I make a turn and hold on tight! You'll love it!"

Dwayne was still standing next to them. "Zoe," he said. When she looked at him, he manipulated her and just let her fall asleep. Laddie looked at him in astonishment. "Vampire," said Dwayne, laughing, and took the sleeping woman in his arms. "We'll get the motorcycles later," he said, rising into the air. Laddie grinned and followed him to the sunken hotel.

There they were already expected by David and Dwayne. Dwayne made Zoe wake up again and put her on a sofa. She looked around in astonishment. David sat across from Zoe with a gallant smile. "Welcome to our humble home," he greeted her. "I'm really happy to finally meet Christina's friend!"

Zoe looked at him completely perplexed and wanted to reply, but she had looked into David's eyes a little too long, she couldn't know that he was a master of manipulation. "Dwayne said you were about to go to sleep," David stated with a smile. "Laddie will show you where to sleep, and tomorrow evening we'll have a little chat!"

Zoe got up like a puppet and followed Laddie into one of the back rooms. Paul and Dwayne watched her laugh.

"Did she call?", Dwayne asked worriedly. David nodded. "I wanted to take matters into my own hands and tear the assholes apart, but we don't want to start a war, so let's wait and see," he explained. "We'll get our revenge later, they'll pay for threatening our family!" Paul and Dwayne nodded in disappointment. A minute later, Marko stood next to his brothers with a completely exhausted Christina. "I was waiting for you," he complained. "What kept you from getting us out?"


	17. Vampires and politic

Little note: I'm happy to be able to post the next chapter. Feel free to tell me what you think about it, and enjoy it!

It was already afternoon when Sam and Michael finally got out of the SUV in front of the Carousel Beach Inn in Santa Carla. The hotel was not far from the boardwalk, all you had to do was walk down Riverside Avenue and then cross Beach Street and you were there.

Sam had deliberately chosen this hotel because he knew that you could get every sort of food on the boardwalk. Sam was glad that he had expensed two rooms instead of having to share a room with his brother as he had planned. That cost him more, but it didn't matter now. Sam was still pissed off at his brother; how could he dare to tell him something silly like he did?

Michael knew very well how much the incident with the vampires all that time ago had burdened his family. Even their grandfather, who had spent his whole life in Santa Carla, had left the town.

Lucy had moved back to Arizona with Sam but they stayed far enough from Sam and Michael's father. Lucy ran the household for an old lady in a small town and took care of the frail husband. She lived with Sam in a small apartment in the old lady's house.

Sam suffered from anxiety and depression. He just couldn't forget what had happened back then. He had terrible nightmares and didn't get along in school very well. His grades went downhill very quickly and he had no interest to make any friends. Most times he went into seclusion.

When Lucy had enough from her son's behavior she eventually got him to do therapy, so Sam went to various psychologists for many years and he took medication.

Sam became a little better and finally, he got his high school diploma. At the age of eighteen, he took a cure. He met Tessa an adorable young woman. They fell in love and married some years later. Sam and Tessa had two kids, Daniel and Nathalie.

Due to lack of time, Sam stopped his therapy at some point. He was working a lot. Most days he came back home late. The time off from work he wanted to spend with his family. He just didn't like the idea of being like his father.

His nightmares got worse again. He helped himself with cocaine. It got so bad that his marriage broke up. Tessa moved to her parents with the children. For Sam, that was his wake-up call.

He went back to therapy and managed to get clean. Then Edgar called and told him about the two hunters Bill and Ted. Edgar had asked the two men to check on Zoe since Bill and Ted were in town anyway about the werewolves.

Edgar was in trouble. Alan had been bitten and kidnapped by a vampire. Edgar had to find out where Alan was detained. At some point, Ted had explained to Edgar on the phone that he and Bill had just learned that the vampires were back. Ted also told Edgar that Christina, the bloodsucker's daughter, also lived in Santa Carla now. Ted had assured Edgar that he and Bill would take care of the woman. She was close to Edgar's sister and Bill didn't like that.

Edgar had warned Sam. He had advised him to get Christina out of the line of fire, otherwise, he could soon be at her funeral. Edgar had admitted to Sam that David and his gang were not the worst trouble for Christina. Bill and Ted were!

Sam didn't make the mistake not to believe Edgar. He had done that once when he didn't believe in vampires being real. Sam had learned just this when he noticed the changes in Michael.

Sure, Christina was not Michael's biological daughter, but Sam saw her as his niece. She was family and he would do everything to protect her from the hunters and the vampires. Sam had protected his family once and he was sure he could do it again!

Sam also was sure if David would find out that Christina was his daughter, and he would, Sam was certain that the cunning vampire would do everything to get his child to his side.

From conversations with Michael and Star, Sam knew that David could be very charming when he had something in mind. Christina was susceptible to it because she wanted nothing more than to be welcome somewhere and not just tolerated! David would shamelessly take advantage of that, that much was certain!

The sun had just set when David floated through the air from rest place to the floor with an elegant roll. David loved that, it never got old, it made him happy that vampires could fly!

He took another look at his family; none of the others made any move to wake up in the next few minutes; so David reached for his socks and boots in relief and headed for the common room. He wanted a few minutes for himself! He had to make up his mind about his next step!

Edgar and Alan's sister was locked in one of the rooms. David had let her fall asleep, so he didn't have to worry about her because Zoe would only wake up when David ordered it. David would deal with her later.

To be honest, he had no intention of harming her. Although she was the little sister of the assholes who tried to wipe out David and his brothers at the time, Zoe couldn't help it. She was also Christina's friend, the only one she had if David saw it correctly.

It would be more than stupid to do anything to Zoe Frog, which would make David upset his child, and he didn't want that. He had no resentment against the woman, she was just born at the time and was just as clueless as Christina.

Christina, yes it was a completely different thing. David grinned in amusement at the sight she had given when Marko had finally appeared in the cave with her. The little one was completely wasted and had just fallen asleep in Marko's arms during the flight from the old slaughterhouse to the sunken hotel.

Christina was still sleeping in the room next door in the bed Laddie had been using until recently. David put on his socks and boots, then went over to Christina to make sure she was really there.

David could hardly believe it, he had racked his brain for weeks on how he could bring his child into the family. And then suddenly everything was going so fast, well, and now she was actually there. He could really touch her. David carefully took her hand and squeezed it lightly. Christina felt the touch somehow because she mumbled something in her sleep. He left the room smiling.

Marko had reported last night that Christina had been doing well. She had finally defeated her fear of Marko and freed him. She could have just run away, she could have just left Marko behind, but she hadn't. Christina was obviously very brave and probably a little careless, even if she wasn't aware of it.

David would have loved to see his daughter knocking that bastard down. He really deserved it! David was proud of his child, but he also knew that the child was far from having arrived in the family. He would have to do persuasion, but he would do that, he was sure.

Some decisions had to be made that night! Christina needed a sire. It was a kind of mentor who would teach her everything she should know as a vampire. A sire was usually also a father figure, a good friend and sometimes a lover. A sire and his fledgling often felt drawn to each other.

So David couldn't take over that part, and frankly, he didn't want to. He already had some hands full with Dwayne, Marko, and Paul. These three vampires were not always so easy to handle, they had their own will. But David loved the three of them for that very reason, but sometimes went way overboard, like Dwayne when he attacked Christina.

But his children weren't the only reason David didn't want to be Christina's sire. Christina was his daughter, she shouldn't be drawn to him that way! Vampires weren't exactly the most moral of all creatures on this planet, but that would go too far!

But whoever would end up being Christina's mentor, David would help and be on hand with help and advice, after all, it was about his child. David was deep in thought, so he didn't notice Dwayne grinning while starting the coffee machine. "Is she still sleeping?" Interrupted David's dark-haired vampire.

David looked at him a bit astonished because normally he missed nothing. "Yes, and that's a good thing because we have something to discuss," he replied. Dwayne nodded. "I can already imagine what it is about," he replied with a smile.

He wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Marko, who had also entered the room with Paul and Laddie. "Paul, why are you sometimes so caustic?" Marko moaned.

Laddie just laughed at the two and sat on a chair. Paul stopped next to Dwayne. "Marko, how long have you been so sensitive?" he asked back with a smile and took the just-filled coffee cup out of Dwayne's hand, whereupon he received a warning look from his brother. Paul laughed. "Don't be like that, Dwayne," he said. "If you were mortal, you would be a candidate for a heart attack as much as you drink this stuff!"

With the cup in hand, he sat on the back of Marko's armchair. Marko looked at Paul and shook his head. "You really should know best how shit it gets when your body comes in contact with holy water," he nagged. Paul grew serious. "Chill out buddy," he apologized. "I didn't mean it like that!"

David and Dwayne looked at each other and shook their heads. David got up and went to the fridge. "Anyone else wants a beer?" He asked. "We have something important to discuss! I could actually just decide for myself, which would probably be better, but I still want to hear your opinion!"

Indeed, David could have simply appointed one of his men to be Christina's mentor because he was the boss after all. He didn't want that but he wasn't Max, who had often used his position of power.

David wanted the chosen one to take on this challenge. David wanted Christina and her sire to get on well. Everyone now looked at David with interest. "What's so important?" Asked Paul impatiently. David sighed. "Paul, can you shut up once and just listen ?!"

Paul shrugged and drank a drink of his coffee but actually kept his mouth shut. It wasn't very smart to test David's patience, he knew that. David cleared his throat. "Well, it's about the little one, Christina," he explained. "She needs a sire, you know that."

He looked at the floor when everyone nodded. "Very well," he continued. "Which one of you does the job?" Dwayne immediately raised both hands in defense. "I already have Laddie," he remarked. "Besides, I would certainly not be the right one anyway after attacking her in the forest."

Paul grinned. "I'd like to take care of the little one," he offered. David looked over at Marko, waiting for a statement from him. "What about you?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.

Even though Marko was much more down to earth than Paul, Paul would be the better choice for Christina. The two liked each other and David hadn't forgotten that it was Paul Christina saw in her dreams; there had to be a connection between the two, even if David couldn't how that could happen. But he still wanted to know what Marko had to say. "You would actually be the next in line since you are older than Paul. Besides, she saved your ass! You owe her something."

Paul looked disappointedly from Marko to David. "I would make a good sire," he tried to convince David. David put his hand on Paul's shoulder. "I know that," he replied with a smile.

"But it's Marko's turn first, and at least I want to hear what he has to say!" Marko shook his head. "I know your daughter is important to you, David," he said. "But I don't want to do that. She is Star's daughter, no matter what she did last night. I'm grateful to her, believe me, but no, I don't want to! Paul would be perfect, think about it!"

Laddie looked at David somewhat embarrassed. "I could be Christina's Sire?" He offered shyly. "After all, we've known each other since she was born." David didn't get to answer Laddie's question because Christina suddenly stood in the room. She had heard what Laddie had just said.

She looked at the men in amazement. "What in the world is a sire?", she asked. "And why should I need something like that? And anyway, where am I?"

Five pairs of eyes looked at her intently. Marko rolled his eyes, however. "Typical, you are hardly awake when you start nagging again," he complained. "You see, David, that's exactly what I mean." Then he turned to Christina again. "Child, sometimes, you're really a pain in my ass!"

Christina looked at him pouting. "What do you think you are? I'm not a child, stop calling me that," she scolded. "I'm sure ..." Christina fell silent. She was definitely older than Marko in human years, but how long was he a vampire. "How old are you?" She finally asked him somewhat uncertainly.

Marko hid his grin behind his hand. Then he got up and went to Christina, she backed away from him, his grin widened. "I'm twenty-one," he replied with a laugh. "But I've been twenty-one for several decades!" Christina looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something and finally closed it again. She was unable to get out a word.

David had enough. He wanted to finally have everything settled. He got up from his chair and went to Christina. "You are at our home," he said. "I hope you slept well. And I hope you feel a little better. After all, you had to put up with a lot."

Christina looked at him wide-eyed and wanted to reply, but David had already turned and went to the coffee machine. He poured coffee into a cup and placed it on a table with empty chairs. "Maybe you'll sit down first," he asked the young woman with an inviting gesture. Then he pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and set it beside the cup. "Fell free to help yourself and then we should talk!"

Christina sighed and looked at David suspiciously, nevertheless she followed his request and sat down at the table with Laddie. Laddie pushed the cup over to her.

"Dwayne is my sire," he tried to direct the conversation back to the subject. Christina looked at him in horror and looked anxiously at Dwayne. He smiled at her and looked sideways, embarrassed, when he realized that Christina could remember what he had almost done to her. He really should have pulled himself together that night!

"That means he's teaching me everything I need to know now that I'm a ... uh because I'm part of the family," said Laddie. David looked hard at the youngest of the vampires to silence him, then sat down at the table as well.

"What Laddie means is that if you become one of us, you will have let's say it that way an aide at your side," David explained. "You will have to learn a lot of things, and teaching you everything important is the job of your sire!"

Christina looked at David totally blank. "What do you mean? How do I become one of you?", she asked. "Maybe I don't want that at all!"

Now Laddie got up and turned Christina's chair over so he could look at her. She looked frightened in Laddie's eyes. "Christina, I was always very happy to be around you! No, not the way you might think now! It's just that you look so much like your father. You were at least all that was left of this family. I've just learned that they still are alive when David and Dwane visited me some weeks ago."

At first, Christina didn't understand what he was talking about, but then she remembered something. Hadn't Laddie told her her father's name? His name was David, just like ... She turned to David, and only now did she realize that he had exactly the same eye color as her. David guessed her thoughts and grinned.

Marko jumped up from his chair. "Did you finally get it, child?" He called enthusiastically. "It took you long enough!" Christina looked over at him, then at Laddie, then at David again. She felt totally overwhelmed by the situation and was about to burst into tears again.

David put his hand on Christina's cheek. "I'm your father, that's why you're here," he whispered. "I want you by my side, here is your place, here with us!" Christina could hardly believe it, David looked so young.

"But you all are...," she began. "Are you all like Dwayne and Marko?", she finally asked. David sighed, then nodded. "Yes, we are vampires, all of us. Even Laddie joined us last night," he admitted. "And just that you know it, we love it, and you will do so too!"

"But I don't want to, I don't want to ..." Christina didn't finish her sentence. She just started crying.

Marko got annoyed again. "Now just listen, little one. I met a young lady for whom our laddie was supposed to draw a tattoo here," he began his speech. "You know what I'm talking about now, don't you?" Christina looked at him and nodded sheepishly.

Marko also nodded. "Good, and what can you see on this template?" He asked. "Isn't it a certain someone who always appears to this young lady in her dreams and saves her?"

Paul looked questioningly at Marko because he was the only one who did not know this template. But Marko continued undeterred. "Doesn't that certain someone remind you of a figure that is in here right now?"

Christina had turned bright red now and looked around. David got up and went to the fridge. "Thanks, Marko, that's exactly what we need now," he scolded. Marko pouted. "I'm just tired of this conversation," he stated.

Christina didn't listen. Her eyes were on Paul. He still had no idea what was going on. David had whiskey poured into six glasses and took two of them. He handed one to his daughter. "You look like you might need that now," he remarked. "Laddie get this damn template and show it to him!"

Paul frowned. Laddie was back quickly and handed Paul his drawing. Dwayne watched silently, then poured himself another whiskey and handed the bottle to David, who had also taught his glass in one go. Marko grinned at Paul. "Do you understand now?"

Paul raised his eyebrows and looked at the picture in disbelieve, then he whistled through his teeth and grinned. "How long have you been dreaming of me, honey?" He asked with a laugh. "Come on, that's no reason to get shy," he added when he noticed how embarrassed Christina was.

She smoked one of David's cigarettes after another. Christina looked over at David, looking rather helpless. "Can I have another one?" She asked shyly and downed her drink.

David nodded and grabbed her glass to fill it up. "Well, we're listening," he asked his daughter to answer Paul's question. Christina blushed again. She wanted to just run away, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get out of this trouble easily.

She sighed. "So did you know my stepfather too?" She asked. David nodded. "I'll tell you everything that happened back then," he replied. "But it's your turn now!"

Christina looked to the side, embarrassed, and pushed her glass over to David so that he could refill it again. She didn't really like whiskey, but she didn't care now. She already felt that she was no longer sober, but she didn't care about that either. She felt warmth in her stomach from the whiskey, which was not so uncomfortable.

"Well," she finally started. "Laddie sure told you that my relationship with Michael was difficult?" She looked around the room and studied the faces of the vampires.

Paul laughed out loud once. "Difficult is an understatement, honey," he scolded. "It behaved like an idiot towards you!"

Christina shrugged. "I always thought it was my fault that he behaved like this," she admitted sheepishly. "It was a long time before I realized that I hadn't done anything wrong. I didn't understand why this man hated me that much."

David took her hands. "Why didn't you leave when you got old enough?" He asked. "You have a good education and I don't have the impression that you can't handle your commitments."

"I didn't want to leave my siblings alone," she confessed. "I promised my mother to help Michael with the two of them. They were little when Mum died. She was sure that it would improve our relationship, but that never happened."

David had lowered his head but still looked at her through the eyelids. "Laddie told us that Michael hit you when you asked for me. The day Star was buried, I mean," he informed his daughter.

Christina nodded. "Yes, that's right," she confessed. Then she smiled. "Laddie was the only one who defended me," she reported. "The others were all too busy, or they just didn't care. Sam and Lucy weren't in the room, otherwise, Michael would never have dared. I was only seventeen and didn't think anything about the question. I wanted to just know your name and what sort of man you are."

Christina had taught her glass again and her reluctance was becoming less and less. She wanted to push it in David's direction again, but Paul had gotten up and stopped her.

"I have something better here," he said, holding a joint up to her face. Christina backed away a little. "But that's not a good role model," she chided Paul, but he laughed. "Maybe," he replied. "But that doesn't give headache either," he justified. "But that would give you some," he added, pointing to the whiskey bottle. "Come on Chrissy, want you to stay. We care for you as we care for each other!"

Marko laughed. "Yeah sure," he called amused. "Above all you!" Dwayne laughs too. "But Paul is right, if she doesn't want a headache tomorrow, his medicine is definitely the better choice," he defended Paul.

David sighed and held the hand in which Paul held the joint. He took it and lit it. Paul protested and took it away from David after he took a drag. "Where are your manners, big daddy?" He quipped. "Ladies first, right?"

He handed the joint to Christina. "You have to keep it in your mouth a little," he explained. It didn't matter to Christina now, she was no longer afraid of the vampires, except maybe Dwayne.

She did what Paul had advised her to do and passed the joint on to Laddie. "Do you do that more often?" She asked. "Sometimes," Paul admitted with a grin. "But you weren't finished with your story," he remarked, then lifted Christina from her chair, sat down on it, and pulled her onto his lap.

The young woman gave a brief cry of shock and amazement. Paul grinned cheekily at her. "Come on, keep going," he asked her. David rolled his eyes in annoyance, the other three were only amused by Paul's behavior.

Christina just wanted to get it over with. Everything gushed out of her, she never stopped telling and she didn't miss anything. Christina paused for a moment. "Well, and since I've been living in Santa Carla, you always appear at the end of those nightmares and smile at me," she concluded her report. "But you look different!"

Paul giggled. "Do I look like this?" He asked, showing his vampire's face. Christina jumped from his lap in amazement. "Damn it, would you please stop that shit!", she shouted, pulling away from him.

"Christina," Paul summoned her. "If I wanted to hurt you, I could have done it long ago!" Christina looked at him annoyed and let him pull her back onto his lap. He had put on his human face again. "Though if I think about it," he said, amused after sniffing Christina's neck. "You smell damn good!"

"Paul," the others called at the same time. "She's right," David said. "Stop that now!" Then he grinned at his daughter. "You woke up and hovered under the ceiling?", he asked amused. "One of the benefits we enjoy, it's fun. You'll be able to control it soon, right Laddie?"

Laddie nodded when Christina looked over at him with interest. "David is telling the truth, it's fun!"

"But you kill people," Christina said. "I do not want that." David took her hands in his. "There are a lot of very bad guys out there, believe me," he said. "Just imagine you're able to eliminate rapists, child molesters, and other characters. Would that really be a big loss?"

Then he became very serious. "But we actually have a decision to make," he reminded everyone of the original theme of the evening. "If you could choose, who would be your mentor?" David was sure that Christina would choose Paul.

Christina looked around the room and was embarrassed again. "I would choose Paul," she finally admitted. "I think I could handle that. And maybe Laddie. It's right, I've known him all my life and I trust him." Then she suddenly laughed. "He gave me his Mucki when I was born. I still have it today," she admitted.

The three other vampires looked blankly from Christina to Laddie. "Who or what is Mucki?" Marko finally asked. Laddie grinned. "Back then Dwayne won me a teddy on the boardwalk," he told his friends.

"Yeah," David said only, suddenly standing up from the table with the whiskey bottle in hand. He poured all of it out. "Paul, are you ready to be her sire?" He asked with his typical bold smile. When Paul nodded, grinning, David toasted everyone. Then he looked over at Laddie. "You are actually too young for this task, but a little bit of you certainly can't hurt," he said with a laugh. "But Paul is the boss, of course," added David, laughing.

Laddie nodded in surprise but delighted. David turned to his daughter. "Come to me, child," he asked, holding out his hand to Christina and waiting for her to stand next to him.

He looked down at her. "I'll tell you how we do it," he explained. "I want to be honest with you. I don't want to rush into anything, so I suggest that your future mentor, or rather your mentors, come to your apartment with you. You pack some of your belongings and spend a few nights with us, and then we'll see. So we can get to know each other and you will soon find out that we are all friends here!"

Christina looked at David. "I lost my bag in the forest," she admitted worriedly. "There's my key in there, and ..." Dwayne held up an object. "Do you mean this bag," he asked with a smile. Christina nodded happily.

She hadn't noticed that Paul had left the room briefly, with Laddie. David had told them to pour some of their blood into a half-empty wine bottle through their mind link. David just couldn't manage to play with open cards because he was afraid of losing his child. He didn't want to take that risk.

Christina looked at the bottle Paul held out to her in surprise after agreeing to David's idea. After all, he was her biological father and he was interested in her. She wanted to get to know him, she had waited for this to happen all of her life.

"Wine," said David, smiling. "Good idea, Paul. Let's toast." David poured some of the wine into the vampire glasses, but Christina got more. "To our family," said David. "On Chrissy!"

When the glasses were emptied, he nodded to Paul and Laddie, and a few minutes later Christina was sitting in the back seat of Paul's motorcycle to pack a bag for a few days as discussed. She was curious to see how those days would go. She had said that she had to work, but David had advised her to just report sick.

Despite the tense situation Christina was in, she enjoyed riding the motorcycle. She wasn't sure if she should be happy that she was with her father or not. She would never have believed that vampires could exist. When her mother told her about David at the time, she hadn't taken the story seriously.

The trip was over too quickly for Christina's taste. Paul guessed her thoughts and smiled. "You will often have the opportunity," he comforted her. Christina took the house key from her pocket and immediately went to the door. Paul and Laddie were still with their motorcycles and Paul were about to offer Laddie a cigarette when he saw two characters approaching Christina.

He immediately hurried over to her and prevented the two men from reaching her. "Michael Emerson, what a nice surprise," he greeted Michael, grinning at Sam and Michael.

At the same time, Dwayne put the still sleeping Zoe on the stairs in front of her house. David was already waiting a few meters away. He woke Zoe up again and poked the memory of Laddie and Dwayne's visit out of her thoughts. David had no use for this woman anymore!


	18. Supernatural families

Little note: I'm happy to be able to post the next chapter. Feel free to tell me what you think about it, and enjoy it!

Supernatural Families

Donald entered the room Marko had just left with Christina. He couldn't believe it, this adorable young woman was the daughter of this cunning vampire, whom Carl Owens, the mayor, had told him about. Donald had noticed the platinum blond bloodsucker. He was not the most friendly creature.

Christina would have to quit her job at the Boardwalkkids in the next few days if she would become one of them. Maybe she would be able to work more hours with Donald in the pool hall if the bloodsuckers would allow it. Donald liked Christina as much as his customers liked her. The young woman did outstanding work. After all, she couldn't help her origins. But he would have to wait and see.

Donald was a little surprised at his own perception, because only when she had left the old slaughterhouse with this vampire did he notice that the smell of these blood-sucking creatures was attached to her. Actually, he should have recognized immediately that she in some way was involved with the vampires. His sense of smell was as sensitive as that of a vampire, even if he belonged to another species.

Well, maybe that was due to the fact that there were so many different scents in the air on the boardwalk and the surrounding area. That could cloud your senses. Still, he couldn't afford such mistakes, it could easily cost him his life!

Christina was actually the enemy of his kind, at least she was one of the enemies. Werewolves and vampires actually hated each other! Typically, werewolves and vampires were very territorial and would defend an area they claimed to their hearts' content. At least, they had to share the "food".

In Santa Carla, however, the situation was somewhat different. Both species had settled in this city many decades ago, long before Donald became a werewolf. Every year in Santa Carla, runaways and other bad people roamed the town. They often did not want to be found, and they were mostly not missed by anyone. Then there were many tourists, so the food supply in this city was more than abundant.

Owens, who had been mayor of this city for ages, and Max, the former head vampire, had never been best friends, but finally, they were able to agree which species got which area. The boardwalk itself was a neutral zone, there was no hunting. There was, of course, an opportunity to lure potential victims into their own area and then strike there, but as long as people stayed on the boardwalk, they were safe, at least as far as the city's supernatural creatures were concerned.

It had always worked relatively well, and even the four punks who were Max's fledglings had always followed that rule. There was occasional scramble when Owen's young wolves met these four bikers, that was it.

Of course, Donald didn't know that it was these four vampires who killed the Surf Nazis. They had been a group among Owen's young wolves. They were always looking for trouble. The Lost Boys could only kill them without any punishment afterward because they constantly provoked them.

The Surf Nazis once had too much fun harassing the young woman, who was a part of the pack of vampires. Then they made the real big mistake to party on the beach section of the vampires.

At that time, Carl Owens was honestly glad that he got rid of this group, but nevertheless he had Max pay for "this loss". The head vampire was extremely rich and had to make sure that his sons, as he always called the four younger vampires, behaved accordingly. So he had to take the punishment for killing the Surf Nazies.

Grumbling, Max had paid the requested amount at the time. He was in the process of restructuring his pack anyway. To get the sons of the woman Max had fallen for into the pack he still needed the Lost Boys. After that, Max had planned to make the four disappear from the scene. It wasn't easy for him, especially when it came to David, whose sire he was. There was a bond between Max and David, but Max still was stronger because he was very old. He could hide his thoughts from David. Max didn't know that David wasn't as clueless as Max wished.

Well, in 1987 Max was the only one who was destroyed, and this was final. Max was burned in the fireplace. Carl Owens thought that the entire pack of vampires had been gone and he was happy at first, but this joy didn't last too long.

It turned out that other vampires were trying to settle in Santa Carla, and these creatures were wild and not a bit cooperative. Back then, the werewolves had a lot of work hunting down these wild vampires to get them out of the city or getting them destroyed.

Then something happened that nobody had expected. David, Max's eldest son, returned from his grave, and after a few years, the other guys of David's gang had managed to be back. Even if Owens didn't like to admit it, he was relieved.

He knew that other vampires would no longer come into the city. It was obviously a vampire law that if a pack was based in a city, no other pack would claim that area. Nobody wanted war.

David was the head vampire now, so Santa Carla was his! However, Owens also knew that David's footing and power were nowhere near that of his predecessor, and of course, he took advantage of this and restricted the rights of the vampires. David reluctantly accepted this after the head of the town had warned him that vampires were very vulnerable during the day. In addition, the wolves were in the majority.

Carl made it clear to David that he was free to leave town with his dudes, but of course, David didn't want that. Santa Carla was the home of the Lost Boys, and where else should they go?

David was extremely annoyed that Carl was curtailing the rights of the vampires, but he also knew exactly what the table would turn one day. He just needed to be patient. Well, it looked like the day had come.

Bill and Ted were in town and the hunted werewolves! The two men have been very effective in this hunt in the past. Bill and Ted took no chances and were merciless, and now they both had planned to wipe out Carl's pack, the pack that included Donald and his family.

Sammy, Donald's wife, was Ted's aunt. Because of her, the man hunted werewolves. He thought that these creatures had killed his aunt. In fact, she was bitten and had to leave her human family because she was now part of the pack.

It wasn't common for werewolves to voluntarily leave their ancestral territory, but Sammy wanted to see something of the world that wasn't a problem outside of the full moon phase.

In Edinburgh, she met Donald and the two fell in love. Donald was bitten by Sammy and finally followed her to Santa Carla. Ted, that idiot, as Donald always called him, even though he had never met him, was very lucky that Donald could hold his own and that Carl trusted Donald blindly.

Finally, for the sake of Sammy, Donal had convinced Carl that it might be a clever move if they would integrate these two successful hunters into the pack instead of killing them. After all, this life had some very pleasant side effects.

Werewolves weren't really immortal like the vampires, but the better these creatures fed, the slower the aging process. Werewolves could get damn old. Carl Owens had been living like this for almost three hundred years, and he didn't look a day older than fifty-five.

In addition, an intelligent, forward-looking pack leader could gain power and prestige in a city, and that was the case in Santa Carla. Owens was one of the founders of many social projects in the city and largely financed them, just like Max did at the time. It was a top priority not to attract attention.

In Santa Carla, the pack leader was also the mayor, in which case Max had suffered a defeat at the time. Max had also claimed the position. It didn't look bad for the vampire at first. Only the fact that Max was indisposed during the day had given the job to the werewolf.

Nevertheless, Max was able to negotiate fair agreements for the vampires. In return, he made sure that his sons did not violate the rules, and although time had been blessing for years, these bikers still stuck to it today.

The curly-haired vampire could have killed Ted, he had no reason not to, but Ted wasn't dead. Ted was passed out on the floor. He had a laceration on the head and a bite mark on the neck. That idiot would survive.

Donald threw Ted over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and left the building. He stopped briefly outside. His eyes flashed silver and he howled into the night.

There was a fact that everyone misrepresented. A werewolf could transform whenever he wanted. But during a full moon night, it just happened without the person concerned having any influence.

By howling, Donald had told his pack that he had Ted. Now all the wolves had to do was grab Bill. While Donald was getting Ted into his car, a black van with screeching tires stopped next to Bill who had just left the house looking for Ted. The back door of the van was pushed open and Bill was pulled into the vehicle. Before he knew what was happening, someone hit him with an object.

A night later, Christina, Paul, and Laddie experienced a big surprise. They had just arrived at the house where Christina lived. As previously discussed, they wanted to get some of Christina's belongings there. She had agreed to spend some time with her father and family.

She knew very well that it might be smarter to run away from these creatures as far as possible, but she was just too curious. She wanted to get to know her father. And if she was honest, she also had to admit that she liked Paul, she liked him a lot.

Paul had just gotten off his motorcycle and Christina had already covered half the way to the front door when Laddie suddenly asked: "Hey, who are they?"

Paul hadn't noticed the two men because he was looking for his lighter to light the cigarette that hung between his lips. Christina hadn't paid any attention to the stranger's car because she had been looking for the front door key in her pocket on the way to the front door.

Paul followed Laddie's gaze and laughed once. Then he jumped off his machine and walked over to Christina before the two men could reach her. The two men registered Paul and stopped, but Christina had noticed the two of them now and wanted to go past Paul, but he held them back. "You stay nice behind me," he said harshly, staring at the two men.

It was Michael and Sam Emerson. There was contempt in Paul's eyes. He didn't despise Michael because he'd fought the vampires back then, and not because he was involved in putting the Lost Boys out of action for so long. Paul knew exactly that at that time Michael only wanted to protect his family. Paul would have done that too.

The vampire despised this man for being so cruel to Christina. She had never done anything to Michael, she belonged to his family. He should have protected her, but no, that asshole had made life hell for the young woman instead.

Paul was aware, of course, that he was mean to his victims too, sometimes, but he would never do anything like that to a family member. The own family was out of limit, especially the human one.

Christina was now Paul's child, part of him! He would do everything necessary to protect her and he would never let her go! Paul wanted to jump on Michael and tear his throat out, but Paul wasn't stupid, he had to hold back for Christina. Even though Michael had treated the young woman badly, he was still part of her human family. Michael had two children, Christina's half-siblings. She loved them very much.

Christina had grown up without her biological father, and Paul knew that she would want to save her siblings from this fate. Laddie had also got off his motorcycle in the meantime and was standing next to Paul, who had pushed Christina behind him. Both vampires were still staring at Sam and Michael, who in turn were completely surprised. They knew the Lost Boys were back, but they hadn't expected to find Christina in their company.

Christina peeked out from behind Paul's back and was still trying to get past him, but he didn't let that happen. The tall, blonde vampire grinned at the Emerson brothers. "Michael, Sam, long time no see," he finally broke the silence with a deadly serious expression. "To what do we ow the pleasure?"

Michael was at a loss of words. "We are here to take his daughter home," Sam replied instead, pointing to his brother. Paul and Laddie looked at each other and grinned.

"His daughter, really?", Laddie questioned amused. "Why do you think she would go with you?"

"She doesn't belong here," Sam spat angrily, looking at his brother. "Could you possibly stop staring at them and say something about it too? You owe her an apology!" However, Michael said nothing, just stared at Paul with his mouth open.

Michael couldn't describe what he felt. Somehow he was relieved that Paul was actually standing in front of him alive, but on the flip side, he wasn't. Back then, Michael primarily wanted his humanity back, he had no intention of killing the vampires, but he hadn't seen any other way out that night. Now he probably feared Paul's desire for revenge. Michael absolutely couldn't figure Paul out, what was the vampire thinking?

Back then Michael had had to watch what Paul and the other three vampires were capable of. And anyway, what did Laddie have to do with them? Laddie looked completely different than Michael remembered him. Michael was sure that Laddie was no longer human, his way of moving gave him away.

To someone who had never dealt with vampires, these movements would seem delicate, almost like those of a ballet dancer. Michael, of course, knew better. Laddie moved like a cat in his eyes and his eyes had changed too; it was the look of a predator that lay in wait for its prey and only waited for the right moment to strike.

Michael looked down and sighed, then looked past Paul at Christina. "Sam is right," he said. "We want to take you home. Robin and Denise miss you very much! And I want to make a formal apologie, please let's talk!"

Christina had heard enough, and when Paul raised his arm, which had previously held her back, to flip Michael the bird, she took the opportunity to finally get past Paul. Paul still tried to hold her back, but he reached into the void and swore.

Paul sent a message to the other three vampires. "We have some unexpected guests," he told them, showing a vision of Michael and Sam into their minds. Paul had forgotten that Christina was now a real half-vampire, and therefore faster than before. It made him angry that she had actually managed to get past him, but when he saw that she was confident about Michael and was obviously pissed off, he was also a little proud and smiled.

Christina really couldn't believe that Michael actually dared to make such a suggestion, after everything he had done to her. What was he actually imagining? This man had lost it completely, he had made her life hell as long as she could think. Did he seriously believe he could offer her a cheap apology and everything would be forgotten?

"You actually dare to come to me?", she shouted at him and looked into his eyes with hatred. "You're probably overwhelmed with the little ones! That's all you want from me! You've never been interested in me! Just leave me alone and take care of everything on your own!"

Michael looked horrified at Christina. He had expected, of course, that she would not be very pleased to see him, but he had not expected this reaction. She had changed. It wasn't just the fact that she finally had the courage to fight him, no, she looked to Michael, like her mother, when she still had been a half-vampire.

Sam looked at Christina as shocked as his brother. Sam was sure that he saw something yellow flashing in Christina's eyes, and hadn't her incisors just changed? It was over just as quickly.

Sam and Michael looked helplessly in Paul's face, but he was just standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and grinning. Finally, Paul shook his head and went to Sam and Michael. He stopped next to Christina and put an arm around her shoulder. Christina looked up at him and smiled.

"Michael, Michael, Michael," The vampire finally stated. "Of course, she is free to go wherever she wants, but I don't think it would be healthy for you if she really would go home with you. At least, to be honest, I don't want to give the little one back too you! She is my child now, and his." Paul pointed his thumb at Laddie over his shoulder.

Sam eyed Laddie. "How dare you?" He asked reproachfully. "We risked our lives back then to save you, and just look at what became of you! You're a monster, just like them!"

Laddie now also approached and stopped next to Christina. He did the same as Paul and put an arm around Christina's shoulder. "You know Sam, your point of view is pretty limited," he said. "I was only a little boy back then, but if you had asked me, you would have known that I wanted to stay with my family. Dwayne was like a father to me, a pretty good one by the way. I loved the boys, and you killed them! I lied to myself for many years. I told myself that I was very lucky because I could be human again, but as I said, it had just been a lie. I only believed this lie because everyone expected me to do so."

Sam wanted to make a snappy comment, but Laddie didn't let him speak. "The blood of my immortal family has always stayed in me and all I ever wanted was for a miracle to happen and they would come back! And as you can see, this wish has actually been fulfilled. In the past ten years, I have felt nothing at all, I was practically dead. I'm lucky it has changed now."

Sam looked at him sadly. "You could have talked to us," he replied. Laddie shook his head. "You would never have understood what was really going on in me," he said. "And it wouldn't have changed anything. I thought my family was dead, lost to me. By the way, I know that Star saw things the same way. I was overjoyed when I found out some time ago that this was a mistake. Well, and when I look at your brother, I wonder if he's feeling the same. After all, the same blood flows through his veins as it flows through mine!"

Sam looked over at Michael and thought about what his brother had told him during the last break on the way to Santa Carla. "You have no idea," he said finally. "But that doesn't change anything!"

In fact, Sam was sure if Michael was completely innocent of all of this. He hadn't drunk vampire blood voluntarily all those years ago. The vampires had set him up. Was this poison really still in Michael's veins? Could that really be possible? Michael cleared his throat and was about to say something, but Christina got ahead of him. She looked up at Paul. "What do you mean? Why am I your child now?", She asked irritated.

Paul grinned confidently at her. "You remember our conversation about the Sire you would need?", the tall, blonde vampire cheerfully asked. Christina nodded in confusion. "Okay," Paul continued. "Laddie and I, we're your sires now. Just the way you wanted it to be."

Sam and Michael looked at each other in horror. They had a clear idea of what Paul had just admitted. That asshole seemed to really enjoy the whole thing. Christina was now more agitated than before. She no longer understood anything.

"How did that happen?" She questioned. "Nothing has changed since this conversation!" Paul laughed out loud. "Oh, honey," he said when he calmed down again. "Everything has changed. By the way, that makes me the happiest vampire on this wonderful planet! Why don't you ask your stepfather here how it works. He will surely remember it!"

Paul wasn't actually finished with his execution, but Sam, who had turned pale now, cut the vampire off. "You set her up just like you did my brother back then," he whispered, trying to pull Christina out of the vampire's grip.

Paul, however, only grinned confidently at Sam and held Christina back. "You're not as stupid as I thought you were, kid," he replied with a laugh. Laddie looked at Christina guiltily. He really hoped Sam and Michael had no stakes or holy water with them. He found Paul was leaning out of the window quite a bit and found the whole story a little too funny. But that was just Paul's way.

Christina finally managed to get out of Paul and Laddie's grip and took a few steps backward. All the color was gone from her face. She fixed her eyes on Paul. "What are you all talking about?" She asked angrily. "finally tell me the truth! What have you done to me?"

Michael finally took heart and wanted to tell his stepdaughter about the sneaky ways of the vampires. He went around Paul and Laddie, put his hand on Christina's shoulder and sighed.

"They mix their blood in wine and give it to you to drink," he said, pointing to Paul and Laddie. "Did they give you wine?" Christina looked at Michael in shock, tears streaming down her face. She was so disappointed, angry and very frustrated when she realized that Paul and even Laddie, whom she loved and trusted as a brother, had betrayed her like this.

Christina slapped Michael's hand from her shoulder and pulled her key out of her pocket as she continued backward. She just wanted to get away and finally have her peace. She was hurt and felt lost and betrayed by everyone.

"I'm so sick of it," she shouted at them. "Why do all of you think that you can do whatever you want with me? I don't feel like your stupid games and mean tricks anymore! Leave me alone, I don't want to see you all anymore!"

Then she turned and ran to the front door. Her hands trembled as she tried to put the key in the keyhole. Finally, she made it, slamming the door shut behind her, ignoring the men. In her apartment, she threw herself on the sofa and let the tears run free. Paul glared at Michael. "Well done, Emerson," he swore. Sam looked at the front door. "Christina, we can help you," he had called after her, but she had ignored him.

David, Dwayne, and Marko had also made their way to Christina after Paul called her. Marko was the first to arrive and witnessed Christina's outburst of anger. He was watching everything and had his grin hidden behind his hand as he chewed on his thumbnail. It was an old habit of his.

The others hadn't even noticed that he was there. "I told you it was going to cause trouble," he remarked dryly, staring at Michael with a grin. "Michael Emerson, that you still dar to come into this city. You looked better before. What happened to your curly hair? Well, you didn't want our gift of eternal youth. Do you regret that already?"

Marko wanted to make another nasty remark, but he couldn't because David and Dwayne had silently floated to the floor behind Michael. David grinned at Marko and then put a hand on Michael's shoulder to draw attention to himself.

"Well that's a really nice surprise," said David, grinning smugly when Michael finally looked at him. "Our lost brother is back! What brought you to our beautiful city after all these years?" David's words oozed sarcasm.

Michael finally recognized why he had fought this guy back then and slapped David's hand from his shoulder. David just laughed. "And nice as you are, you brought us your little brother as a gift," said the vampire, amused. "I think Dwayne has something else to talk to the kid."

Dwayne looked at Sam seriously. "David is right, we still have something to talk about," he said cynically. "You didn't come here completely unarmed? How stupid of you! I would love to ram one of your arrows into your body so you know how shit it feels!"

Sam, of course, had a stupid saying on his lips to defend himself, but Dwayne never thought of letting him have his say. The vampire rammed his fist in Sam's abdomen, causing Sam to groan and fall to the ground.

"Did you want to say something, asshole," Dwayne asked. "You better shut up. Nobody around cares anyway!" In the meantime, David had grabbed Michael by the neck and pulled him up so that his feet no longer touched the floor.

"Michael, Michael, Michael, how come we always find you near the women who belong to us?" He asked very quietly and threw Michael on the floor. Michael touched his neck in relief and stood up slowly and a little dazed. Michael helped his brother back on his feet and tried to lunge on David, but Marko held him back with a sneaky grin.

David laughed and then became dead serious again. "What do you want here Michael?", he asked. "Do you miss Christina? You treated her like dirt, what do you want from my little girl?"

Sam glared at the vampire. "Yes, of course, you are someone to say something like this, since you always treat others very nice," he spat. "You kill innocent people! Can you even count how many humans you already killed?"

Dwayne hit Sam again. "I told you to be quiet," he said. "We only do what is necessary to survive!" David grinned at Paul. "Speaking of our women, where's Christina?" He asked. Paul looked David in the eyes a little unsure. "Michael told her something that upset her a little," he justified. David had given him an order and he had failed.

Marko laughed out loud, whereupon David eyed him with raised eyebrows, then looked impatiently at Paul. "Is that so?" David asked, and all the vampires except Laddie laughed. He felt guilty and took pity on Christina.

David gave Dwayne and Marko a cold look. "Bring the assholes to Hudson's Bluff," he told them. "They'll like our guest rooms. We decide later what we do with them!"

The vampires laughed again because the "guest rooms" were nothing but dark, cold chambers that were in the back of the cave. There was nothing in these rooms, but the doors were intact and lockable. David watched Dwayne and Marko fly away with their prisoners.

"You two are coming with me," he ordered Paul and Laddie without looking at them. Paul laughed bitterly. "She won't let us in," he said confidently. David finally looked at Paul. "Really?" He just asked, then turned and casually strolled to the front door. On the way, he pulled his own key out of his jacket pocket.

He unlocked the door and stared impatiently at Paul and Laddie. "Why does it take you that long," David asked. "Yes," Paul only said and went into the house, followed by Laddie.

David didn't even bother to unlock the apartment door, one kick with his boots was all it took and the door crashed to the floor. Christina jumped from the couch, startled when the door landed on the floor and stared at her father, stunned.

David had put on his typical smug grin again. It made Christina more than angry. "Why?" She pounced on the vampire, like a fury while she was crying.

She punched his chest with her little fists. David just looked at her blankly and tolerated it. Paul wanted to stop Christina, but David stopped him with one gesture.

He could only well imagine what she was feeling right now. David was frankly relieved that she reacted that way. He remembered very well that all of them had shown a reaction like this when they learned what would become of them back then.

People who accepted immortality without resistance were usually unpredictable as vampires, nobody who was smart enough wanted someone like that in their pack.

He wondered if Christina should decide what to do with Sam and Michael. Christina had finally stopped beating David and was sobbing loudly. He held her tightly in his arms and stroked her hair. "You are coming home now," he said softly.

Zoe was still sitting on the steps in front of the Frog family's former comic shop. She didn't understand what she was doing there and why she had fallen asleep there. The figure of a man crouched next to her. "What are you doing out here," he asked when she finally noticed that she wasn't alone. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't remember. But what are you doing here, Alan?"


	19. The monster in me

Alan had been thinking about where to go for a while. It was a few weeks ago that this bloodsucker had bitten him and turned him into a half-vampire. Alan was kidnapped by the asshole and locked up in the basement of an old, empty house.

Alan knew Edgar was looking for him. Alan also knew that Edgar would do anything to kill the vampire who dared to bite his brother. As soon as Edgar succeeded, Alan would be free. Then he would be human again and that was all he wanted at the moment!

Somehow Alan finally managed to escape this dark hole. At first, he hid from his sire, but he also avoided the mortals. He didn't want to risk that his thirst for blood could make him kill someone, turning him completely into a vampire.

Eventually, Alan learned that if he drank animal blood, he would be able to last longer. It tasted pretty hideous, frankly, and didn't completely satisfy his thirst for blood, but at least it helped.

In this way, he freed injured, doomed animals of all kinds from their suffering in the woods. After a few days, Alan felt ready to meet people again without seeing them solely as food.

Alan took some time to think about what to do next. He absolutely had to find his brother. He had no clue where Edgar was. But the two hunters had made an arrangement many years ago. If they ever lost sight of each other, they would return to their parents' home in Santa Carla. There they would meet again.

The good thing was that there was enough wildlife in the Santa Carla area that Alan could drink from, and at least keep up with strength. He didn't like doing that, but what choice did he have?

Alan was a little skeptical at first because he was a half-vampire and his younger sister still lived in the Frog family's house. Alan didn't want to endanger Zoe. Then he thought about finally having the opportunity to prove to his sister that supernatural creatures existed.

It was certainly a delicate undertaking to show her the monster that was now part of him, but Zoe had never believed Alan and Edgar that vampires and other terrible creatures lived in this city among the people, and of course, their brothers could never provide her with evidence.

Alan understood his sister, who believed in such fairy tales? The townspeople hadn't even noticed that all those years ago Max and his sons, who were hanging out on the boardwalk every night were creatures of the night. Maybe some citizens of Santa Carla had some idea, but nobody really wanted to admit it.

Everyone had labeled the Frog family crazy. Alan was still shattered of the night in Sam Emerson's grandfather's house when he and Edgar had helped wipe out the bloodsuckers. Alan had nightmares every night for a very long time. The vampire that Edgar had staked in the sunken hotel was the first vampire the brothers had ever seen.

These creatures smelled like rotting meat. Alan was well aware that his body odor could no longer be particularly pleasant, and he wondered how people could stand to be near vampires.

He knew, of course, that most vampires were able to manipulate people's thoughts. That probably helped the bloodsuckers make sure that the mortals didn't notice their stench, at least not immediately. Alan didn't really know, though, and frankly, he wasn't interested in finding out. He just wanted to be himself again, Alan Frog, the vampire hunter!

When Alan reached Santa Carla, he immediately noticed the smell of decay. He could hardly believe it, but there must be vampires in this city again. He couldn't take care of that at that moment.

He wanted to go back to his parents' home, where he hoped to meet his brother. He wanted to finally prove to his sister that he and Edgar were by no means crazy. He wanted to finally show Zoe the existence of vampires!

Alan pulled the hood of his black sweatshirt jacket deep into his face as he stepped onto the boardwalk. He didn't want to be seen or even recognized. He wanted to go home as soon as possible.

When he finally saw the house he grew up in, he stopped in amazement. It was certainly nothing new that runaways kept coming into town, but never before had any of them dared to spend the night on the stairs of his parents' home. But right there someone was sleeping.

Alan stared at the figure on the stairs for a few seconds, then noticed the smell of putrefaction very strongly. At least one vampire must have been right there with that person.

Then Alan took a closer look at the sleeping figure. "Shit," he just swore, running as if stung by the tarantula. It was hard to believe, but the figure on the stairs was his younger sister, and the closer he got to her, the more intense the vampire's foul smell.

On the one hand, Alan feared the worst, but on the other hand, he also knew very well that even a very stupid vampire would not simply reveal his victim to the public.

"Zoe," cried Alan. "Zoe, wake up!" Zoe didn't move. Alan carefully examined his sister for bite marks. He examined her neck first, but there was nothing. Then he looked at her wrists, there was also nothing to be seen. Alan breathed a sigh of relief.

Zoe breathed and her clothes weren't torn, so he could assume she wasn't bitten. She just slept, but very deeply. Alan touched her shoulder and shook it, but she simply pushed his hand away in her sleep. "I'm so tired, leave me alone," she murmured. Then Alan noticed that Zoe's eyelids fluttered a little, she seemed to be slowly getting herself out of her deep sleep.

It was a few seconds before Zoe opened her eyes. She looked around in confusion. She just couldn't explain why she fell asleep on the stairs in front of her parents' house! Zoe remembered that Bill had been with her, but at some point, he left because he wanted to see Ted, his best friend, who obviously had some problem.

Bill had left her only a few minutes when the doorbell rang. Zoe was about to go to sleep. When she heard the bell, she thought Bill had forgotten something and opened the door completely innocently.

But there wasn't Bill there, there was ... Zoe couldn't remember who rang her bell so late. Zoe remembered that she had let the visitors into her apartment, even though it was already late and she was about to go to bed.

Damn, it had been two visitors, but who? It drove Zoe crazy that she no longer knew. Christina, her best friend, Zoe remembered that everything had to do with Christina! Zoe remembered that Christina had tried to reach her. There was a missed call from Christina on Zoe's smartphone. Zoe called her friend back, but Christina didn't answer.

A blurred memory of two men standing in Zoe's hall crept into her mind. Who were these men? Zoe remembered only two words from the conversation with the men, "Christina" and "danger". The young woman finally noticed that she was not alone.

She looked at her brother in astonishment. "Alan, what are you doing here?" She asked. "Where's Edgar?"

Alan looked at the floor, embarrassed. "I don't know, we've lost sight of each other," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But what are you doing out here at this time? You know how dangerous it is! And why are you sleeping here?"

Zoe felt caught. "What's going on? I don't see any danger here," she countered angrily. "We haven't seen each other for a long time, and the first thing that comes to mind is to correct me? I'm no longer a little girl! Why can't you get that?"

Alan shook his head in annoyance. "You have no idea what's going on here," he replied indignantly. He's had a pretty hot temper since he was bitten, and Alan was well aware of that.

He sighed and smiled. "Come on, let's not argue," he asked his sister. "I need to talk to you urgently! Let's go inside!"

A few minutes later, the siblings were sitting in Zoe's living room with a cup of coffee in hand. They looked at each other in silence. Zoe couldn't help it; she hadn't seen her brother for a long time, but he had changed somehow. He wasn't just getting older, no, he was just different! Zoe couldn't say exactly what it was, but it frightened her. She knew that none of her brothers would ever bend one hair on her head, but still, she was afraid of her brother and was suspiciously watching him.

Alan could smell his sister's fear. He looked out of the window, then looked straight into Zoe's face, dead serious. "You do well to be afraid of me," he admitted. "I have changed, and this change is by no means positive. I can now prove to you something that you never believed us. I wish I didn't have to do this, but I have no choice. You have to finally realize the truth about this damned city and its dark side!"

Zoe put her coffee cup on the table in slow motion and looked at Alan uncertainly. "What do you mean by that?" Alan got up and put his cup down too. "Not a thing I say," he replied. I'll show you something so that you finally get it!"

He turned away from Zoe so that she couldn't see his face. When he turned around again, he had turned into the monster who now shared his body with the real Alan. The contours of his face had changed, his eyebrows were almost gone, his pupils were glowing yellow and his fangs pricked his lower lip.

Zoe jumped from the chair in horror and backed away from Alan. While doing so, she stumbled over an object lying on the floor next to the armchair and fell over, Alan wanted to hurry to his sister's help, but she backed away on all fours and tried to get out of the room.

Zoe cursed, jumped up from the floor, and wanted to run to the door. Alan was, of course, faster and blocked her way. "Now I know why vampires enjoy hunting so much," he whispered. "The smell of your fear is really exciting!"

Zoe stopped and looked at her brother angrily. "What do you want from me?"

Alan changed back again. "I want to talk to you, I said that," he said again. Zoe pounced on her brother. She didn't know exactly where to escape, but she wanted to get away from that monster. She hit Alan, who kept blocking her way.

"Zoe, stop it," Alan muttered, but Zoe didn't stop. She was unsettled, angry, and shocked. She had to let those feelings out somehow. Alan screamed at her, but she didn't stop. She hit Alan's torso and sobbed.

Alan finally saw no other option, he slapped his little sister in the face. Zoe looked at him in surprise and anger. She wanted to hit him again, but he held her hands.

"Zoe, stop it," he asked. "I don't want to hurt you! We need to talk! We need to find out where Edgar is. You're in danger!"

Zoe finally let go of Alan and looked at him shaken and sobbed. "What are you? Why?" She asked quietly. "I don't understand all of this."

Alan sighed in relief and hugged his sister close. Then he led her back to her chair and gently pushed her in. He took her cup from the table and gave it to her.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," he said. "I would never hurt you. You can still trust me. I am still your big brother and it is my job to protect you. I thought Edgar and I destroyed the bloodsuckers of this city many years ago, but we did both were wrong. There are vampires in town and they were near you. I can smell that, you stink of them!"

Zoe looked at him angrily. "I've never seen a vampire except you now. Why are you suddenly such a thing?", she shouted at her brother and slammed her mug on the table. "Finally stop telling me such nonsense!"

Alan looked at his sister impatiently. "Should I show you again so you can finally believe me?" He asked.

Zoe shook her head in fear but said nothing.

"I'm a half-vampire. I haven't killed anyone yet, and I have no intention of changing that," Alan said. "That's why it's so important that we find Edgar. If we find the bloodsucker who did this to me and destroy him, I'll be human again."

Zoe stared at her brother, examining him, hoping he wouldn't show her that horrible monster again. So she could at least convince herself that Alan was just Alan. "I don't remember," she finally admitted. "I have a blackout. I just don't know what happened the last nights and why you found me out on the stairs."

Alan nodded. "It's not your fault, Zoe," he said. "Vampires have the ability to manipulate your thoughts. The older the bloodsucker is, the more influence it can exert. I'm not very good at it yet. And I'll tell you again, there were vampires with you, at least two. You really stink of them. I just don't understand why they didn't bite you."

Zoe started crying again. She was desperate. "You can really smell that?" she asked.

Alan nodded. "What's the last thing you remember?" He asked.

Zoe thought for a moment. "My boyfriend was here. But he had to go because his buddy was having some trouble," she reported. "The doorbell rang and I thought he had was missing something. I opened the door, but it wasn't Bill standing there. There were two men, but I don't know who they were. I have to know them, however, because I let them in. Christina, this has something to do with Christina. She's in danger!"

Alan gave a quick laugh. "Christina?" He asked. "She is far away and not a good deal for you!"

Alan thought of the last time he saw this girl. It would have been better if Star hadn't given birth to this freak. Alan had never understood why she really wanted this child, whose father was the bloodsucker that Michael Emerson had destroyed.

Zoe looked blankly at her brother. "Christina is my friend and very adorable," she defended Christina. "She's been living here for a few months. After all, she was born here, just like us! Santa Carla is her hometown!"

Now it was Alan who jumped up from the sofa, startled. "So you spent a lot of time with Christina, I guess," he said.

Zoe nodded. "Well, in the beginning," she replied. "But then I met Bill and fell in love with him. Christina doesn't really like him and his friend Ted. I told her that Ted, Bill's best friend, was always asking about her, but she wasn't interested in him."

When Zoe mentioned the names, Bill and Ted, Alan listened attentively. The two were hunters, just like Alan and Edgar. They should just watch out for Zoe a little while in Santa Carla. There was never any talk of either of them going to Zoe. Bill put Zoe in danger. Bill and Ted were chasing werewolves. Many of these creatures were in high positions in the Santa Carla city council, as in the city police headquarters. What had this idiot thought of taking such a big risk? Alan stared at his sister seriously. "Well, where have you been with Christina and who did you meet there?"

Zoe got angry. "Is this an interrogation here?", she yelled at her brother. "It is none of your business that we did. But if you want to know exactly, we have been on the boardwalk a few times and had a lot of fun!"

Alan raised his eyebrows. His sister really couldn't be that stupid. The boardwalk has always been a dangerous place, especially for young women who were walking around there alone!

"Damn it, Zoe, we didn't tell you to stay away from it for nothing," complained Alan. "Well, who did you meet there?"

"Alan," Zoe called annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean? We were stayed alone. We didn't meet anyone there!"

Alan was getting impatient. "Zoe, listen carefully now," he ordered. "At least two vampires were near you. Something must have happened on the boardwalk. Somebody must have noticed you there. The bloodsuckers did something to you, they didn't bite you or kill you. There must be a reason for that, think harder, even if you don't find it important, every little detail helps us! Who did you meet on the boardwalk?"

Zoe was beginning to despair. "Alan, the boardwalk is full of people in the evening," she countered. "We met a lot of people there. Nothing unusual ever happened there!"

But then a picture appeared in Zoe's memories. "Wait," she called. "There was something. I forgot it, and I don't know if that's important in any way."

Alan looked intently at his sister and nodded. "What happened, tell me!"

"When I was out with Christina the first night, we wanted to go to the beach with a bottle of wine," she said. "We were in the old carousel before. We were just going down the stairs to the beach when four motorcycles appeared at the top of the stairs."

Alan stared at his sister. "Are you sure?" He asked. He remembered four motorcyclists who were on the boardwalk almost every night when Alan and Edgar were teenagers. It later turned out that the four guys were vampires chasing Sam Emerson's family. The frog brothers had destroyed these vampires with the help of Sam and Michael Emerson. These four vampires liked to take the shortcut across the beach when they were on their way to their hiding place with their motorcycles.

"What did these guys look like?" Alan asked.

Zoe grimaced in annoyance. "What some bikers look like," she explained. "A lot of leather, long hair. Just like bikers."

The young woman thought for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "Wait, maybe there was something else about them," she explained. "I didn't attach any importance to this, but when I think about it now I have to admit that it was kind of scary. Christina was scared anyway."

Alan frowned at his sister. "Scary?" He asked. "Well tell me! As I said, every little detail, and no matter how unimportant, can help us here. We have to find out what happened to you!"

Zoe sighed. "Yes, yes, it's fine," she said. "Well, three of the guys drove down the stairs, honking and roaring loudly. They behaved rather stupidly but didn't do anything to us. The fourth guy followed them slowly and didn't take his eyes off Christina. I was wondering how he could go downstairs without looking where he was going. The guy had a special aura somehow, and now that I think about it he looked somehow different. I rarely saw a guy with light blond hair. They were almost white."

Alan jumped up from the sofa and stared at Zoe in horror. He had a bad idea. "What did the other three look like? Come on Zoe, it's important!"

"Well, they were all handsome," she said. "One of them had red blonde, long, curly hair, the guy had a face like an angel. He smiled all the time, but his smile was somehow not real, I don't know, I can't explain it to you. I think he was wearing a black pair of jeans and a black leather jacket with a black denim vest over it. There were a lot of patches on the vest, so I noticed it in the first place."

Alan listened carefully and did not interrupt his sister. "Oh yeah, this guy was a bit shorter than the others. Then there was a guy with long, dark hair. He could be a native American. A handsome dude. He was wearing leather pants and also a leather jacket, and no shirt. His clothes were black too. The last of the guys was blonde again. The guy was fairly thin and tall. He also had long hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket. By the way, pretty tight jeans, the guy was a real feast for the eyes!"

Alan rolled his eyes, and he realized who the vampires were that roamed Santa Carla again. He had known for a long time that Edgar and he had made a big mistake that night in the house of Sam Emerson's grandfather. They had allowed the vampires to be buried. But they should have been burned. Alan was sure the Lost Boys were back.

"Listen, you pack your things right away, we have to get out of here," Alan said bluntly. "Don't look at me like that now! I know which bloodsuckers got to you and that doesn't mean anything good. You can forget about Christina, she's definitely not the one you once knew anymore."

Zoe got angry again. "You probably overdo a little," she yelled at Alan. "I can't just disappear, I have obligations. And besides that, I don't want to leave here! My boyfriend lives here ..."

"Your lover? You have no idea. Edgar and I have asked him to keep you safe while he is in town. He was asked to spend time with you, that's all. And apart from that, everyone who is close to you is in mortal danger," Alan explained. "And by the way, what you want is not important right now! You have to get out of the city, so finally, go and pack your things!"

Zoe was about to explode. Her brother had obviously gone completely insane. What was he actually imagining? Her brothers hadn't shown up for years, and now that. Zoe just didn't want to give in.

Alan sighed. "Listen, I don't want to patronize or annoy you," he said. "But it is important that you do what I tell you this time. Your life depends on it. I explain everything to you, I promise, but now there is no time for it. You have to pack now. Trust me, please!"

Zoe did not agree at all, but she recognized how serious her brother was. She reluctantly turned to go packing, but Alan held her arm. "Do you have a car?", he asked.

Zoe shook her head. "I work around the corner," she explained. "I never needed a car.

Alan sighed annoyed." Are the old v-dubs still in the garage?", he continued.

Zoe nodded." Do you really think it will still work? ", she asked. "It's been there but no one used in years."

Alan grinned." This is an old baby with a sturdy machine," he explained. "I can get it going. I'll get a new battery while you pack, and then we'll get out of this cursed city. Oh, and call Edgar. We need to know where he is!"

"Why don't you call him yourself? I don't understand why you didn't do this long ago," Zoe moaned. Then she looked at Alan thoughtfully. "No, come on, that's not true now, is it? You still refuse to use a smartphone. If it were up to you, you would probably still use bush drums today! I really can't believe it. A little thing like that could solve many of your problems, you know! For example, you would have found Edgar long ago!"

"Call him, "Alan simply ordered. "Go on, go ahead! If we know where he is, we will finally know where our road trip will take us." Then the half-vampire left the room to take care of their parent's old car.

It was getting light outside and Alan noticed that his strength was slowly leaving him. Fortunately, since he was only half a bloodsucker, he was able to be active during the day, at least for a while, he just had to start the car's engine, and his sister would have to drive while he would sleep in the back of the vehicle.

Zoe had already opened the phone book on her smartphone and was about to press Edgar's number, but she changed her mind. First, she decided to call Christina. Zoe hadn't spoken to her friend in a long time. Christina was obviously in trouble, and Zoe finally wanted to know what was going on and how Christina was doing.

Christina obviously had her smartphone in her hand because after just ringing once, she answered Zoe. "Zoe, I'm so glad to hear from you. I tried to reach you. Damn, where have you been?"

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. "Christina, I'm glad you're fine. You're fine, aren't you?"

Christina considered for a moment. "I don't know, so much has happened in the past few days, I don't know where to start telling. Zoe, I found my father, or rather, he found me."

"That's good," replied Zoe. "And, is he nice the way you imagined him? You have to tell me everything, but not now, I don't have much time. Alan is here, he suddenly showed up here. I have to tell you something, but please don't think I'm crazy because it's really true. Alan, he's changed. He's no longer a real person. He's a half-vampire. I won't lie, I really saw it. His face suddenly changed, it was terrible! Christina, something terrible is happening here! I'm scared!"

Christina pulled the phone from her ear for a moment and made sure that she was really alone. She knew, of course, that it was already light and her father and the other men were sleeping by now, but you never knew what these creatures could do. Then she realized what Zoe had just told her and became a little paler if that even was possible. So many bad things had happened to her in the past few days. She hadn't eaten properly, clearly drinking too much alcohol. She hadn't slept very well either. She was tormented by nightmares.

"Zoe, I believe everything you told me," she finally admitted. "Do you remember the motorcyclists? I mean the guys from the stairs to the beach. You remember the guy who didn't take his eyes off me?"

Zoe nodded although Christina couldn't see it. "It's funny that you mention them," she said. "Alan wanted to know everything about them after I mentioned the guys. He wanted to know exactly what they looked like and what clothes they were wearing. Why do you ask?"

Christina sighed. "The guy with the almost white hair, David, he's my father."

Now Zoe had to smile. "Christina, excuse me if I say that now, but you're crazy! He can't be your father, he's far too young! Surely he's younger than both of us!"

Christina slowly despaired. "No, I'm not pulling a Pinocchio on you at all," she snapped. "He's obviously much older than he looks. He's like Alan, not a person. Zoe, my father is a vampire! They are all vampires, all four of them! And your friend and his buddy, shit, Zoe, I knew that something was wrong with them. Ted, that asshole kidnapped me and Marko. He tortured Marko."

Now Zoe had enough. "What are you talking about?" She asked angrily. "Ted isn't a monster. Why should he do something like that? And who is Marko anyway?"

Christina was discouraged. She had hoped that Zoe could help her somehow, but now she was losing all hope. Obviously, Zoe was having a problem similar to that of Christina.

"Zoe, I swear every word is true. Marko is a friend of my father's. We were in my favorite club. Marko was supposed to take me home and Ted kidnapped us. Really, I'm not lying, why should I do that? Laddie is also one of them now, a vampire. And I ..."

Christina had tears running down her face. It made her angry that she felt so helpless. "My father, he set me up. He gave me something to drink, it was Paul's blood. Paul also belongs to my father's family. And now I'm ..." Christina sobbed. "I'm like your brother. And then Sam and Michael showed up when I wanted to get some things out of my apartment to spend some time with my father and family. I don't know what to do now!"

Zoe heard Christina cry. She wanted to help her but didn't know what she could offer her friend. "Christina, where are you? Maybe you can come with us!"

Christina smiled again. "I don't know exactly where I am," she said. "The rooms are under a car repair shop. I can't get out of here. They have a security system here, a door that separates the workshop from the underground living quarters. I can't open this door. I need a code for this, and I don't know it ."

"Your father locked you up?" Zoe asked, horrified. "That sucks! I could talk to Alan."

"No," Christina shouted stunned. "Please don't tell your brother anything. I don't want to drag you in there. I'll be fine. I'm glad that I could talk to you. My father promised me a big surprise for the coming night, I'm afraid that means nothing good either. I'm afraid of what he has in store for me!"

"But you have to get out of there," scolded Zoe. "Shit, I think Alan will be back. I have to go now. I should be calling Edgar. I'll call you again!"

Zoe barely managed to dial Edgar's number before Alan entered the room. It turned out that Edgar was actually on his way home, hoping to find his brother. He had made it to San Francisco and was spending the night in a hotel there. There he would wait for his siblings.

Alan had managed to get the engine of the old VW to run. He had also managed to convince his sister that she didn't need to take her entire wardrobe with her. Blouses and dresses would not be suitable, just as little as her cosmetics.

The Frog siblings embarked on a mission, the goal of which was to save Alan! Zoe needed practical, comfortable clothes, some weapons, and training. The youngest child of the Frog family would join her brothers now. In the future, she would destroy vampires and other hideous creatures of the night!


End file.
